AlMei Oneshots
by 1-800fangirl
Summary: This is where I'll be uploading all my oneshots for AlMei Week each year, and any other AlMei oneshot I may come up with. Current Oneshot: AlMei Week 2017 - "Adventure/Home"
1. Senses

**Hello, fellow FMA fans! This is place where I shall be dumping any FMA oneshots that come to mind. Therefore updates will be completely random. The stories may center on romance or adventure, angst or humor. Who knows? I sure as Hades don't. What I'm starting with is AlMei Week 2016! So, without further ado, here is AlMei Week 2016 Prompt 1: Senses.**

 **Note:** I describe Mei's eyes as brown, because in the anime they're shown only to be a dark color. Perhaps they're more of a navy blue, but I went with brown, because I have a friend with brown eyes, but their eyes look like Mei's when the light hits them right. So Mei has brown eyes in all of these. Deal with it.

 **Disclaimer:** Fullmetal Alchemist does not belong to me. If it did, Al and Mei would have gotten together.

Senses

 **See:** "Alphonse-sama!"

Al lifted his head from the alkahestry textbook he was studying upon hearing the cheerful voice of a certain Xingese alkahetrist.

"I'm ready to head to the palace!"

"Alright!" He folded the page in the book and placed a bookmark where he'd left off – one could never be too careful when it came to books – and placed it on the table in front of him. He stood, brushing off his suit jacket as he did so before making his way towards the sliding door. As he walking he heard a loud _thump!_ from down the hall. "Mei?" he called out. "Are you okay?"

There was a muffled curse and a mutter about how stupid heels were, and that she didn't care what Ling said, she was wearing flats. "Yeah, I'm fine! Technical difficulties!"

He chuckled at the tiredness in her voice. Despite her long day, she was still determined to come with him to the palace. The Emperor – Ling – was holding a fancy dinner for all of the ambassadors that had come to Xing from other countries. This unfortunately included Alphonse, since he had been temporarily appointed as Amestris' ambassador. _Colonel – no, Brigadier General –,_ he corrected himself, _is taking too long to choose who to send to Xing._ Al was too polite to say anything, but he was tired of having his training with Mei interrupted by so-called 'duties' of the ambassador. But whether he liked it or not, he was stuck in the position until Mustang made his decision. And therefore he was stuck attending the dinner. Ling – being Ling – had also ordered everyone to bring a Xingese date. Something about trying to improve Xingese relations…? Al snorted. Yeah, the Emperor just wanted an excuse to bring Lan Fan as a date instead of a bodyguard. Thankfully, Mei had agreed to accompany him so he wouldn't have to ask a complete stranger…

 ***Flashback begins***

 _"Um, Mei?" the blonde Amestrian said nervously. "Can I ask you something?"_

 _The black-haired girl's cheeks turned pink. "Oh, um, of course, Alphonse-sama! Is something wrong?"_

 _He massaged his temples, chuckling as he did so. "One could say that."_

 _"What's the problem?"_

 _"The Emperor."_

 _"You know he insists you call him Ling."_

 _He snorted. "The moment some official catches me doing that, I'll have a cell with my name on it."_

 _Mei rolled her eyes. "You're being silly. So, what has Ling done now?"_

 _"Well, he's holding this stu – a_ lovely _dinner for all ambassadors, and he wants us all to bring a Xingese date, so…"_

 _She beamed at him. "Do you want me to accompany you, Alphonse-sama?"_

 _He sighed in relief. "Yes. But only if it doesn't trouble you, of course."_

 _"I'd love to!"_

 _One thought ran through his mind._ Oh, thank Truth.

 ***Flashback ends***

Alphonse was already quite aware that Ling would instantly jump to conclusions and practically start planning the wedding for him and Mei. But if either of them were asked about any sort of romantic feelings for the other, they would heavily deny anything. Al had just reached the door when Mei appeared from an opposite hallway. The first thing he noticed were the simple red flats on her feet. The second thing made his jaw drop.

The petite princess was clad in a stunning red Xingese silk dress with golden dragons embroidered on it. Her long black hair was pinned up on her head in a bun, held in place by a pair of chopsticks that had small red and gold dragon figurines dangling from the ends. Basically… She was _beautiful_.

"M-Mei…" he stuttered, speechless.

The girl blushed. "I hope I'm not overdressed…" She gave him an uncharacteristically shy smile.

He turned a bright red. "I – uh…" He took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. "You look great." _And that's an understatement,_ he added in his mind.

Mei's blush deepened. "E-Enough flattery!" she suddenly said, grabbing his arm and pulling him out the door. "We need to get going or we'll be late!"

Al laughed and allowed himself to be pulled out the door. People would definitely assume they were a couple. That was certain. But maybe he had no reason to deny it now.

xxxxxxxxx

 **Hear:** Al yawned, waking up to the sound of soft music. _How nice…_ He rolled over to look at his watch on the dresser. He squinted, sure he was misreading the time. _Wait… 5 AM?!_ Why was he waking up so early?! And then he remembered. _The music… Who in their right mind is playing music at 5 in the morning?!_ He sighed, rubbing his eyes. Well, he was awake now, and there wasn't any way he was going to be able to return to sleep. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it had never caused any harm to an alchemist-slash-alkahetrist. Or rather, alkahetrist-in-training.

The blonde Amestrian swung his legs over the side of the bed and quietly tiptoed out of his room and into the hall. After pausing and listening closely, he determined the music was coming from the north. He looked down the hall and sighed. Unfortunately, there were a lot of rooms to the north of him, seeing as his room was at the end of the hall. _But it doesn't matter._ No longer was Al truly _angry_ at whoever it was for waking him so early, but now more interested in _why_ they were playing music at 5 in the morning. He couldn't think of any practical reason, so he figured it had to be personal.

Al frowned. The music had suddenly stopped. He cursed internally. He hadn't found its source yet! What was he supposed to – _Aha!_ He was such an idiot. In his defense, no one's brain was at its sharpest at 5 AM. He closed his eyes, concentrating. He wasn't training to be an alkahetrist for nothing. The music stopping was a minor setback. He took a deep breath, relaxing and merging his chi with his surroundings. He could suddenly feel dozens of other chi around him. And then… There it was.

Music did not necessarily have a chi of its own, but it had a tendency to disturb any chi around it as it traveled from place to place. He was easily able to detect the path the music had come from, seeing as there was no chi in that area. A smirk crept onto his lips. He'd gotten a lot better at alkahestry recently, and this was just further proof. Mei often called him "Mr. Prodigy", claiming he learned even faster than she did. The short-haired blonde alchemist smiled at the thought before following the path of disturbance, determined to find the music's source.

It took Alphonse maybe five minutes to completely find his way to the music's origin. He'd had to backtrack a few times, not to mention completely turn around at least twice. _I should I have expected that. Sound doesn't go in one direction and one direction only._ Finally, he reached his destination. _The porch?_ Well, that would explain why the sound had been so faint. But who was it? He peeked through a window above the sink that overlooked the porch and saw the culprit. _Mei?!_

The Xingese girl was sitting cross-legged on the ground, a delicate wooden flute in her hand. Needless to say, Al was surprised. _Has she been the one playing it?_ He noticed her lips were moving. He pressed his ear to the glass, curious as to what she was saying.

"That try was certainly better than the last. Don't you think, Xiao Mei?" he heard her ask.

The tiny panda squeaked in agreement, causing Mei to giggle. "How sweet of you."

The panda made another noise, this one less enthusiastic.

Mei sighed. "You're right. I can't stop now. I've got to perfect this before I show it to Alphonse-sama!"

Al smiled softly at her words. He took his ear away from the window, instead choosing to watch her place the flute just underneath her lips and start to play again. Despite the occasional missed or off-key note, he thought it was beautiful. And not just the music. Her spirit, too.

"Dang it! I messed up again! There's no way I can show Alphonse-sama if it stays like this."

He chuckled to himself. _That's Mei for you. Always pushing for perfection. But you know…_ Al smiled, watching the Xingese girl try again. _I think she's already surpassed it._

xxxxxxxxx

 **Smell:** Al was exhausted after a long day. Or rather, he was exhausted after dealing with Ling with three hours. _Next time, Lan Fan is not leaving the room. She's the only one who can keep him calm._ All the blonde Amestrian wanted to do was relax and just read one of his many alkahestry books. Unfortunately, the one he was reading was currently in the bathroom. A bathroom that was occupied by a certain Xingese princess preparing to shower. But Al was not feeling particularly patient that day. He wasn't rude about anything, instead he just couldn't sit still and wait.

He knocked on the bathroom door for the umpteenth time. "Mei? Are you done yet?"

Inside, Mei sighed in exasperation. "I haven't even gotten _in_ the shower yet!" she replied crossly. "You need to be patient, okay? I find no pleasure in you knocking on the door every five seconds!"

Al sighed, then had a bit of an epiphany. _Aha!_ "Well, if you haven't gotten in yet," he said, starting to turn the doorknob, "surely I can –"

"ALPHONSE ELRIC," Mei screeched, "DON'T YOU DARE –"

It was too late.

He opened the door to reveal and absolutely mortified Mei, her face a brilliant crimson, a towel wrapped around her body in such a way that made him assume it had been done in great haste. What made him think this? Mostly the fact that he could see a great deal of her slim legs and the towel was showing off a fair amount of cleavage. His first thought was: _I am now going to be considered a pervert,_ and then it turned into, _Ed is never going to let me hear the end of this._

Al then realized he'd been staring at Mei the whole time, who was now hugging the towel to her as tightly as possible. His cheeks turned scarlet. He immediately averted his eyes, partially out of respect for the quivering girl – _Is that rage or humiliation?_ he wondered – and partially out of embarrassment, since the towel around her left very little to the imagination. "Um..." he began. "Maybe I shouldn't have –" He stopped suddenly, sniffing the air. _What's that smell?_ It was… Nice. He sniffed again. _Hmm… That's definitely vanilla, and is that… Jasmine, maybe?_ "Mei, do you have some sort of perf –"

"Get out!" the black-haired girl practically shouted, her face even more red than perhaps only ten seconds ago. "Get out of here! Right now!"

Al realized that he was still in the bathroom with the scantily clad girl. "I, uh, sorry!" He quickly took his leave, Mei slamming the door behind him. He heard the familiar _click_ as she locked the door. _I suppose I deserved that._ He waited a moment to calm himself down before knocking again.

No answer.

 _Fair enough,_ he thought ruefully, a small tugging on the corners of his lips. He hesitated briefly, but then knocked again. From outside, he heard a sigh come from in the bathroom.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

He could still hear embarrassment in her voice. "I just want to ask you something."

"Well, make it quick. I want to shower, you know."

He didn't miss a beat. "What was that smell just now? The jasmine and vanilla one?"

Inside the bathroom, Mei's cheeks heated up again. "That's – That's none of your business."

"It was really nice! I'm just curious."

She sighed. "It's a perfume Lan Fan gave me while we were hanging out today, okay?"

 _Oh, so_ that's _where Lan Fan was,_ he realized. Then he smiled. "I like it."

"G-Glad you did."

"You should keep using it."

"WOULD YOU LET ME SHOWER IN PEACE ALREADY?!"

xxxxxxxxx

 **Feel:** Al checked his watch. _11:37._ Where was Mei? She was normally up bright and early, but she hadn't once left her room yet that day. He was starting to get a little worried about his alkahestry teacher. This was _completely_ out of character for her. _Then again,_ he said to himself, _she might be meditating._ The Xingese princess did on occasion remain in her room for extended periods of time meditating. He'd disturbed her once, and it hadn't been pretty.

 ***Flashback begins***

 _Al knocked on Mei's door, worried something had happened to her. "Mei?" he called out. "Are you feeling okay?"_

 _Her door flew open, and an extremely ticked off Mei glared angrily at him. "I'm_ trying _to meditate," she snapped. "It helps with detecting the Dragon's Pulse. So if you want me to continue to teach you alkahestry, don't bother me again!"_

 _At that, the door slammed in his face._

 ***Flashback ends***

He shuddered at the memory. Of course, she had apologized to him the next day, explaining that not only had she not meditated in a while, but she had also been on her… 'Grumpy Time', as he and his brother had ever-so-fondly nicknamed it. Al smirked at the thought of his brother having to deal with an angry Winry at such a time. _Poor him._

He was distracted from his thoughts by a tired-looking Xingese princess slowly walking into the main room. He grinned. "I'm glad to see you're awake!"

She ignored him, stumbling around and bumping into the couch and the table and a dozen other pieces of furniture.

He frowned. "Mei," he said, the concern in his voice clear, "are you feeling okay?" _You're acting… Strange,_ he added in his mind.

"Oh, I'm fine," the girl responded dazedly, her voice an octave higher than usual. "Just a bit… Tired…" She proceeded to trip over a table leg and fall to the floor.

Al jumped up from his seat on the couch, alkahestry book sliding off his lap, forgotten. He dashed over to her. "Mei!"

"Fine, fine, I'm fine," she said airily, waving her hand dismissively. Her voice was still much higher than usual. "I just wasn't paying… Attention… To where I was… Going." She stared at him with glazed eyes, then burst into a fit a giggles. "There are two Alphonse-sama's! Yay!"

He looked over her worriedly. _Did she have something to drink last night that I didn't know about…?_ He noticed how pink her face was. _Glazed eyes, pink face… Are those symptoms of a hangover?_ His fingers accidentally brushed her forehead as he moved her bangs out of her face. He instantly pulled his hand back. She was burning up! _Glazed eyes, pink face,_ he thought grimly. _Not necessarily symptoms of a hangover, but when paired with a fever, not to mention how tired and dizzy she was…_ He could come to only one conclusion. "Mei, I think you've got a cold."

"No, no," she said, smiling tiredly at him. "I'm perfectly fine. I haven't… Been in the rain… Or anything."

Yeah, Mei was definitely sick if she couldn't remember how a person caught a cold. Al gave her a stern look. "Rain has little to nothing to do with catching a cold. A cold is a type of viral infection. You can catch one anywhere, in any sort of weather."

"I don't… Have… A cold."

He almost laughed at the black-haired girl's stubborn refusal to admit that she was sick. "I think you do, Mei."

"I can't… Have a cold," she tried to explain, evidently exhausted. "I've… Got stuff to do… I can't… Let myself… Get behind…"

He gave her another stern look. "I don't want to hear it. You aren't doing anything today except getting some rest." He picked her up bridal style and carried her back to her bedroom, gently placing her on her bed. She tried to get out, but he held her down.

"Alkahestry _is_ rest," she protested.

"Not when you've got a cold."

"But –"

"No 'buts'." Al smiled at the petite girl. "Today I'm going to take care of you, and there isn't anything you can do about it."

"Wuah… Fine."

xxxxxxxxx

 **Taste:** Al heard a crackly _POP_ come from the kitchen, and he was immediately on alert. "Mei?"

No response.

"Mei?" he tried again. "Did something happen?"

Nervous laughter floated into the room. "Eheheheh… It's fine! I've got everything under control!"

He wasn't sure what do. Part of him was telling him to go see what was going on, but another part of him said to trust Mei because she was a perfectly capable 16 year old girl. _That's right,_ he told himself. _She's not a child I have to protect anymore._ His attention returned to the alkahestry circle drawn by Mei on a piece of paper in front of him. She'd told him to break it down and analyze the components, and while he'd successfully broken it into two overlapping triangles inside a circle, he hadn't figured out much else.

A loud _crash_ came from the kitchen.

Al frowned. "Mei?"

"Fine! Fine! Everything's fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yup! You just keep working out that circle, okay?"

He sighed but turned back around. _The circle is complicated,_ he mused. _I don't understand the purpose of having lines that extend as if they're going to connect from point to point but instead stop midway. To be honest… It looks like a gear._

There was a loud _BANG_ , and then a familiar shriek echoed in the room.

That was it. Al jumped up, alkahestry circle forgotten. "Mei! What's going on?!"

"Fire! Fire! Quick, quick, come help me!"

At the sound of the Xingese princess' panicked voice, he ran into the kitchen, fearing the worst. What he saw was a frantic Mei desperately fanning at flames coming off of the stove, Xiao Mei doing her best to help her owner.

"Help me put it out!" she exclaimed.

He nodded, looking around for a fire extinguisher. Except there wasn't one. "Mei, do you not have a fire extinguisher?!"

"I never thought I'd need one!"

"Really?! Even though you live in a grass house?!"

"My house is _not_ made of grass!"

"Close enough."

"Stop complaining and put it out somehow!"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. Do you have a bucket?"

"We've been using them for target practice, remember? They're all outside!"

Instead of responding, he clapped his hands together. _Looks I'm going to have to do alchemy, even though I swore I wouldn't… Better than having her house burn down!_ He placed his palms against the base of the stove, transmuting some of the hydrogen and oxygen in the air above the stove into water. It fell onto the fire, instantly dousing the flames.

Mei sighed in relief, causing Al to laugh.

"What I want to know," he said, still laughing, "is why you didn't do that own your own?"

She blushed angrily. "Well, first off, I was just a _little_ preoccupied by trying to keep the fire from spreading to the rest of the kitchen. _Second_ , you of all people should know that alkahestry is not alchemy! We transmute to heal or to carry energy, not transform things."

He tilted his head, agreeing with her. "True. I can let that slide. Even so… I think you may have been overreacting a bit."

She scowled at him. "April 1st, Alphonse Elric. April. 1st."

He cringed at the memory. "Fair point."

She hmphed and turned away from him. "Now get out of here."

He frowned. "Hey, hey. Wait. I want to know what you were trying to cook and why it caught on fire so spectacularly!"

Mei blushed. "That is not something necessary for your survival. Leave."

Al sighed. "Mei, seriously. I just put out the fire. Consider telling me equivalent exchange."

"Stop bringing alchemy into our conversation."

"And you stop changing the topic."

She sighed. "Fine," she grumbled. "It was Qi Bai Ji, and some vegetables. It caught on fire because Xiao Mei knocked over pans and fell of the counter, so I went to tend to her instead of paying attention to my cooking. It proceeded to overheat and burst into flames. Happy?"

He chuckled. "I guess that's one word to describe it."

Mei sighed again, but this time it was one of sadness. "I'm normally not a bad cook. I just wanted to try something more complex. But I'm _clearly_ not cut out for it." Her brown eyes were brimming with tears. "I just wanted to prove to you that I'm not only book-smart!"

Al suddenly remembered going with Mei to visit her parents and help her explain that she wasn't going to be available for any sort of 'events' because she was going to be teaching him alkahestry. He'd been in another room at the time, but he'd heard Mei's conversation with her sister loud and clear.

 ***Flashback begins***

 _"Mei," Tiānshǐ – one of Mei's many sisters – said rudely, "you've got to stop with all this 'smart' stuff."_

 _Mei frowned. "What do you mean?"_

 _Tiānshǐ rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. You may be first in line for the throne in the Chang clan, but you aren't a real princess. A princess isn't so book-smart. A princess can cook, clean, and acts like a lady. You can't do any of those. You read books all the time, spar, and do that silly alkahestry thing."_

 _"And your point is?"_

 _"You'll never get anywhere in life with just book-smarts," Tiānshǐ sneered. "You're useless._ That's _my point."_

 ***Flashback ends***

Al smiled softly at the petite girl. "Mei, I don't care about what your sister says."

"Y-You don't?"

"Well, why should I? I've only met her that one time, and I don't like her all that much. Besides," he said, grinning, "why should it matter if you're book-smart, street-smart, or any other type of smart?"

Mei wiped the tears out of her eyes. "Thank you, Alphonse-sama."

"I like you for you. But, if it makes you feel better…"

"What?" she asked curiously.

He gave her an even wider grin. "I'm sure that if the Qi Bai Ji hadn't burned, it would have tasted amazing."

xxxxxxxxx

Alphonse Elric considered himself to be the luckiest man in all of Xing. No, he had to be the luckiest man in the _world_ , for every day he woke up with the knowledge that his teacher, best friend, and girlfriend all in one was _his_ to experience all five senses with. It couldn't get better than that.

xxxxxxxxx

 **And that is Day 1 of AlMei Week 2016 completed. Hope everyone enjoyed, and I hope you all come back tomorrow for Prompt 2: Balance.**


	2. Balance

**Hello everyone, and welcome back! Assuming you read the previous oneshot, that is. This is the second day of AlMei Week 2016. I hope you all enjoy Prompt 2: Balance.**

 **Disclaimer:** Fullmetal Alchemist is WAY too good of a[n] manga/anime to be owned by me.

Balance

Mei Chang had a sort of a secret hobby. Not a _bad_ secret, or even really a secret at all. She just chose not to broadcast the so-called secret to everyone within earshot. You see, this Xingese princess absolutely _loved_ to get up early in the mornings and do about an hour of yoga. It was not only a great way for her to physically stretch – _that_ helped with her sparring – but also an excellent way to relax and focus her mind, both of which were exceedingly important concepts to master when it came to the ability to use alkahestry. Mei wasn't necessarily _embarrassed_ to admit that she did yoga and _enjoyed_ it, but didn't see a point in the sharing the fact with anyone. Besides that, she loved having an hour of quiet in the morning.

More _importantly_ , it was an hour when she could just focus on _her._

Yes, Mei cared for Alphonse Elric dearly, and Xiao Mei even more so, but sometimes she couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the amount of activity that was suddenly occurring in her originally quiet – and generally empty, seeing as she'd rarely been home – household. It was enough to exhaust anyone, even someone that had as much energy as her.

What better way to relax than by stretching out muscles that you once thought could never be stretched?

She couldn't think of a better thing to do, either.

xxxxxxxxx

And _that_ was the reason our favorite Xingese alkahetrist was slowly tiptoeing past the guest bedroom Alphonse Elric was currently sleeping – or so she hoped – in, a quietly snoring Xiao Mei resting on her shoulder as she did so. Alphonse had only arrived in Xing a few nights before, so she was taking _especial_ care not to wake him. She knew better than almost anyone how time zone changes could completely _ruin_ a person's sleep cycle.

She grimaced slightly at the memory of arriving in Amestris for the first time and being awake at midnight while everyone else slept, only to pass out 11 in the morning when the rest of humanity had been hard at work doing their jobs. It had taken a few days, but she'd eventually gotten used to the different times.

When she'd returned to Xing, of course, her sleep cycle had been a bit messed up, but it had quickly reset itself after only one or two days. As for Alphonse… Mei was fairly certain this was his first time changing time zones so drastically. _Fingers crossed, he's asleep right now._

Already extremely light-footed after years of learning how to run without making a sound and land on the ground after a fall with only the lightest _thump_ , Mei's tiptoeing could very likely be the most silent thing known to mankind. Her feet made no noise as she slowly but surely stepped from floorboard to floorboard, avoiding the ones she knew would creak if even the smallest of pressure was placed on it. _I should probably consider replacing those,_ she silently mused.

For just a brief second, Mei stopped paying attention to where she was going, and _tripped_ over a broken floorboard she'd been so careful to avoid every other morning.

The black-haired girl fell flat onto the floor, face-first, a loud _THUMP_ echoing in the hallway as she crashed into the ground. She mentally cursed herself. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ She winced, partially from the throbbing pain in her side, and partially because she knew that it was incredibly likely that she had just woken Alphonse Elric from a peaceful slumber. She didn't move, waiting to see if she'd hear anything.

After a minute, there had been no sounds of disturbance coming from the blonde Amestrian's room.

Mei exhaled quietly in relief, thankful she hadn't woken him. Not only would she have felt awful for doing so, but she would also have had to explain to him the reason she was outside of his room so early in the morning.

And then she heard it. The familiar sound of tired feet shuffling. A bleary-eyed Alphonse proceeded to open the door and look around, brow wrinkling in confusion when he didn't see anyone there.

"Um… Down here?" Mei squeaked.

His gaze moved to the ground and came to rest on a furiously blushing Mei. Obviously unsure of what to do, he hesitantly offered her his hand, which she pointedly ignored as she stood on her own, brushing off her yoga clothes as she did so.

Mei then gave him an awkward smile, laughing nervously as she did so. "Eh heh… Good morning, Alphonse-sama?" _Oops._ She hadn't meant for that to come out as a question.

Al rubbed his eyes, as if he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing. "Mei… Why are you up so early?" He looked her up and down, taking in her odd attire for an early Monday morning. "And what's with your clothes?"

She blushed, realizing how she must look in her pink tank top and black stretch pants. "I just couldn't sleep, you know?" she said uneasily, not thinking for a second that he'd believe her. "And my clothes… Are really comfy pajamas?"

He frowned. "Um… Okay, I guess."

 _He bought it?_ Instantly, the Xingese girl felt bad for lying to him, even though she hadn't been lying so much as refusing to admit the truth. "Alphonse-sama –"

He held up a hand to stop her. "If you want to keep it to yourself, Mei, that's fine." He gave her a warm smile. "I, of all people, understand that."

 _Oh, Truth._ He was making her feel _worse!_ "It's not that I don't want to tell you!" she protested. "It's just that, uh, er –" _Dang it!_ Why couldn't she find the right words?!

Al chuckled at the petite princess' desperate attempt to come up with something to say. "It's alright, Mei." He started to close the door.

Mei knew she had a split second to make her decision. "Wait!" she exclaimed, placing her foot in the frame to stop the door from shutting. "I want to tell you, Alphonse-sama!"

He stopped, turning around to face her. "Well, okay. But you don't have to."

She felt her cheeks heat up. "I _do_ want to tell you! Really!"

He laughed. "Okay, okay. I get it. Spit it out."

She was certain her cheeks had to be as red as a tomato. "You see… Iliketogetupanddoyogainthemornings!"

Al frowned. "I didn't really catch that."

She laughed nervously. "Um, yeah! Sorry!" She took a shaky breath in order to calm her nerves. "I said that I like to get up and do yoga in the mornings." She refused to meet his eyes, more embarrassed by the fact that she was acting so stupid over such a silly thing rather than her 'secret'.

His brow furrowed in thought. "Yoga, yoga…" His eyes light up. "I've heard about that! It's that spiritual relaxation thing, right? Where you have to control your breathing, meditate, and get in those weird poses?"

Mei giggled at his definition of the activity. "That's one way to put it. Did you research it?"

"Not exactly."

"Then how do you know so much about it?"

"It's more that I was researching _Xing_ and there were a few paragraphs about it in one of the books I had."

Her eyes sparkled mischievously. "So, did it seem interesting to you?"

He shrugged. "I guess. I mean, all it did was explain the basic concepts. There weren't any examples of the poses or anything."

"Perfect!"

"Huh?"

"Well, did you see anything about alkahestry while reading about it?"

"Not in that book, since it was just different traditions and customs in Xing. But I read about alkahestry in other books."

Mei resisted the urge to squeal in excitement. "So you should know what the basic things you have to master before becoming an alkahetrist are, right?"

Al nodded. "Yup! The main thing is being able to ease the tension from your mind and then being able to focus it on the Dragon's Pulse, right?"

" _Exactly_." She grabbed his arm. "You're about to get your first alkahestry lesson, Alphonse-sama!"

He sweatdropped. "I'm about to – what?"

She laughed and started to pull him down the hall towards her meditation-slash-yoga room. "We're going to work on the focus of the mind by doing yoga, of course!"

"W-Wait!"

"Nope!"

"At least let me change into some better clothes!"

She eyed him suspiciously, Xiao Mei doing the same, having woken up from her slumber by all of the commotion. "You aren't going to run away, are you?"

He laughed. "No, Mei. I'm not going to run." He smiled at her. "I trust your intuition. If you say this a good way for me to start learning alkahestry, I'm sure it is."

Mei felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "Th-Thank you, Alphonse-sama."

He gave her another warm smile before disappearing into his room.

xxxxxxxxx

While waiting him, Mei decided to set up the yoga room properly. _Not that there's much to do,_ she thought, looking around. _Hmm…_ She grabbed two mats – pink and blue – off a shelf and laid them out on the floor. She also lit a few of the candles scattered along the edges of the room. She then made sure the small stone fountain in the corner was working properly. _And… Done._ She smiled in satisfaction at her handiwork before sitting on the pink mat to wait for the blonde Amestrian to arrive.

xxxxxxxxx

Around five minutes later, Al walked in. "Wow," he whistled softly in admiration. "I swear, Mei, your house has the most amazing rooms."

She giggled at the compliment. "Thank you, but most people disagree." She made a funny face. "Something about the rooms not being _traditional_ enough or something."

He smirked. "Why go by old traditions when you can start new ones of your own?"

She beamed at him. "My thoughts exactly! I certainly prefer having a yoga room over a tea ceremony one."

It was Al's turn to make an odd face. "Ugh, tea. I loved it as a kid, but now I can't get into it."

Mei nodded somewhat dejectedly. "Yeah. I've seen a lot of herbs used in tea that also have medicinal properties. I hate to think that things that could save people's lives are being used as a drink."

"Isn't that the purpose of alkahestry? To heal?"

"Yes, but we can't do everything. Surface wounds? Easy. Internal bleeding? Punctured organs? We can knit them shut quickly." A miserable expression crossed her face. "But viruses? Cancerous tumors? We can slow them down and provide pain relief, but that's about it." She hastily wiped away the tears forming in her eyes before he could see them. "I really hate feeling so helpless."

He instantly regretted his question upon seeing the crystalline liquid trickle from the petite girl's eyes. As a way to change the topic, he sat down across from her on the blue mat. "So, what are we going to start with?"

She smiled softly to herself. _He hasn't changed a bit. Always trying to comfort people._ "Well, we'll start with a bit of meditation. Sit in the lotus position, like this." She quickly demonstrated the simple pose, crossing her legs and resting her hands on her knees.

He studied her for a brief moment before getting into the position himself. "Like this?"

Mei grinned. "Perfect! Now, listen closely," she instructed, "because I'm only going to say this once." _Or thirty times, if he asks me to repeat it that many._ "Yoga is all about balance. Finding that equilibrium of the balance of your body and your mind. Alkahestry – as I said earlier – contains similar concepts. That's why I think yoga is a good way to start learning alkahestry." She gave the blonde alchemist a hard stare. "And one more thing. Unless an emergency requires it, _no alchemy_. Okay?"

Al laughed. "Got it. No alchemy."

She nodded. "Alright. Good. Now close your eyes, and relax. Focus your mind, and therefore all of the energy in your body. Breath in, breath out."

Both golden and brown eyes closed. Soon the only sound in the room was the trickle of water from the fountain and the two teens' deep breathing.

"You have to first concentrate on merely inhaling and exhaling," Mei instructed, eyes still closed. "You have to believe that you are the only thing that matters right now, the only thing that _exists_." As the Xingese princess spoke, she couldn't help but open one eye to see how he was doing.

Alphonse's eyes were shut. His entire body seemed relaxed and tranquil, and the aura around was completely peaceful and still. On his face, however, there was a look of pure concentration. Even though his eyes were closed, she could still see how powerful his focus was.

This made her smile, and she shut her eyes again and continued her own meditation.

xxxxxxxxx

After about ten minutes, Xiao Mei gently tapped her owner's knee, having been taught to do that by Mei herself so the princess would know when her fifteen minutes of meditation were up.

Mei took one last deep breath before opening her eyes and smiling at her small friend. "Good job," she said, giving the panda a quick scratch underneath her chin. Then she faced Alphonse. "Time's up. You can open your eyes."

As the blonde alchemist opened his golden it eyes, it struck her again how he was just as princely as he'd claimed to be. _Stop,_ she chided herself. _That was just a silly fantasy. He's your student now, not some prince that's going to rescue you from your responsibilities._

"That was quite relaxing," he said, smiling at her.

"So do you feel more at peace with yourself? Like you understand yourself better?"

"Absolutely."

She gave him an impish grin. "Good, because now we're about to test your ability of 'mind over matter'."

He grimaced. "I take it this is when we begin the physical aspects of yoga? All of the stretching?"

"That's right!"

"I think you've got an unfair advantage here. You're extremely flexible already."

"And your point is?"

He shrugged. "It'll be a lot easier for you than for me."

She laughed. "Don't worry, don't worry. We aren't starting with any particularly difficult positions."

"If you say so."

"I _do_ say so. Now stand up!" She quickly hopped to her feet, Alphonse doing the same but at a slower pace. "First pose we're going to do is the eagle pose." Xiao Mei squeaked in agreement. "This is how it looks." Mei quickly demonstrated the stretch, crossing her arms in front of her before using her left hand to gently cup her right palm. She then proceeded to bend her right knee while wrapping her left leg around it, making her left foot touch her right calf. "Now you try!"

Al gaped at the way the Xingese princess contorted her body into such a position and _still_ managed to remain standing. "Um… I don't think I can do that."

She pouted. "Geez, you're so mean." The she laughed. "Okay, how about the wild thing pose?" She went down into a backbend before bending her left leg and moving it so her left foot was directly below the back of her right kneecap. She lifted her left arm off the floor and stretched it backwards, making an 'okay' symbol with her hand as she did so. "It's not so hard!"

His jaw dropped even lower. "Mei, I have no idea how the heck you're doing this."

"It's easy!"

He snorted. "Says the one who's probably been doing this every day for months."

She paused. "Okay, fair point." She got out of the pose and stood up, brushing herself off. "Okay, I've got a really easy one. It's called the tree pose."

"It _sounds_ easier, but I don't think I can make such assumptions anymore."

She giggled. "It _is_ easy! I promise. It's just like this. Lift your right leg and place your right foot on the inside of your left thigh – though you can put it on the side of your left knee, since this is your first time – and then place the palms of your hands together, as if you're praying."

"Or performing an alchemic transmutation," he joked.

Mei glared at him, though the amused gleam in her eye proved she wasn't truly angry. "I said no alchemy, Alphonse-sama!"

Al pretended to zip his lips. "My bad. It won't happen again."

"Good. Now get in the pose!"

He chuckled. "Okay, okay." He placed his hands together, but as he tried to move his right foot to the side of his left knee, he accidentally brushed a certain panda. Xiao Mei glared angrily at the blonde Amestrian, lunging at him to bite his foot. Her teeth hit her target dead on. Al yelped in pain before losing his balance and falling on top of Mei, their faces inches apart.

Mei's cheeks turned bright red as she lay underneath the handsome alchemist, unsure of what she supposed to do.

Al's cheeks were dusted with pink as he stared down at the tiny girl beneath him, almost afraid to move for fear of crushing her.

Finally, Mei spoke. "Alphonse-sama…"

"Hmm?"

"You really need to work on your balance."

xxxxxxxxx

 **I think that's a fitting ending, don't you agree? Well, that ends Day 2 of AlMei Week 2016. I hope you return tomorrow for Prompt 3: Food – you know, speaking of food, I'm hungry – and I also hope you enjoyed today's prompt. Bye for now!**


	3. Food

**Hello again, my friends. I'm sure you are all sitting at your computers or staring at your phones, eagerly awaiting this oneshot for AlMei Week 2016.**

 **I'm joking, of course. They aren't** ** _that_** **good.**

 **I'll stop pretending I'm all that and simply give you the story. So, without further ado, here is Prompt 3: Food.**

 **Note:** "Měishí Jié" means "Food Festival". Pardon my lack of imagination.

 **Disclaimer:** Have you ever heard the saying "If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times"? Well, I've said it _twice_ so the message should be clear. I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Food

Al hadn't had any idea how many diverse types of food Xing had to offer, much less even consider how _different_ they were to traditional Amestrian meals. The amount of spices and seasoning was absolutely crazy if he thought about it, and yet they all blended together so well in many different way to create a roller coaster ride of an experience for his tongue.

He hated to even _think_ about how ignorant he would have remained if Mei hadn't convinced him to attend Xing's annual "Měishí Jié" with her…

xxxxxxxxx

 ***Flashback begins***

 _"Come on, Alphonse-sama!" Mei pleaded. "I don't want to go alone!"_

 _"You won't be alone," he replied, giving her a soft smile. "Xiao Mei is going to be with you."_

 _"That's not the same," she huffed, pouting and crossing her arms. "You know Xiao Mei can't eat the food. It's bad for her."_

 _"Surely she can eat some of the raw vegetables."_

 _"I'm sure she_ could _, but she doesn't want to. She's a panda, despite how she may appear." Xiao Mei made an indignant squeak at this comment. "She prefers bamboo."_

 _Al chuckled to himself at the sudden memory of him and Ed mistakenly believing the tiny panda to be a cat._

 _"Besides," Mei said, exasperated, "I want to go with a human! Someone I can talk to and recommend food to!"_

 _He smirked. "Oh, so not a homunculus?"_

 _She glared at him. "That's not funny, Alphonse-sama."_

 _"I thought it was."_

 _"Stop changing the subject!"_

 _Al sighed. "Mei, I feel like I should use the free time I get to study alkahestry, not be a tourist."_

 _Mei rolled her eyes. "It's just as Winry warned me. All you Elrics ever want to do is study! You need to take a break every now and then, you know. It's bad for your health to stay cooped up every day."_

 _The color drained from his face. "Wait… You've been communicating with Winry?"_

 _"Well, of course! We send each other letters every month. And as soon as the phone lines are completely finished that will connect Xing and Amestris, we'll be calling each other, too. Is that a problem?"_

 _"N-No! Of course not."_

 _"Good. Now back to the topic at hand: come with me! Please!"_

 _"Mei…"_

 _"Don't 'Mei', me!" the petite girl said, glowering at him. "If you won't agree to come, I'll tie you up and drag you along!"_

 _"Why don't you ask Lan Fan or Ling? They're human,_ and _they know more about Xing than me."_

 _Mei rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Alphonse-sama… 1. Ling is the Emperor, so I can't exactly take him to the festival. 2. Lan Fan is his bodyguard, so I doubt she'd be willing leave his side for a second. 3. I want to bring you_ because _you don't know that much about Xing! I want to be the one to explain things to you, to introduce you to everything! Please…"_

 _He made the mistake of looking at her face. She was doing puppy dog eyes – or panda eyes, as she called them – and they were adorable. She was the master at them, due to her already innocent demeanor, round face, and huge brown eyes. He cursed himself. "Aargh, fine! But only for a little while. After that I get to come back here and study."_

 _She beamed at him. "Yay! Don't worry, Alphonse-sama. This going to be great!"_

 _He sighed, but he couldn't stop a small smile from forming on his lips. "Yeah, I bet it will be."_

 _"I'm really happy you agreed willingly," the Xingese princess said, continuing as if Al had never spoken. "Winry told me that a wrench is a good way to force someone, but I don't have a wrench, so I figured I'd have to use my kunai."_

 _Al blanched. The two most dangerous women he knew were friends, and were giving each other advice on_ weapons _. He and Ed were screwed._

 ***Flashback ends***

xxxxxxxxx

He felt a chill run down his spine at the memory. It hadn't been spoken of since then, but he was terrified about what other things the two girls could be concocting through letters to each other. By taking Winry's advice, Mei could become the death of him…

 _Speaking of Mei…_ Al had lost sight of the small princess. He looked around, but couldn't find her. She had probably gotten lost within the crowd, and he couldn't see her because of her height, or lack thereof. _Probably shouldn't mention that to her,_ he chuckled to himself.

After giving the area a more thorough search, he spotted the pink-clad girl by one of the many booths off to the side, Xiao Mei resting on her shoulder as they examined the dozens of different foods in front of them. Even from where he stood, he was able to pick up on her excitement – of course, it helped that he was an alkahetrist-in-training.

He started to make his way over to her, only to bump into an elderly woman as he weaved his way through the crowd. "I'm sorry," he apologized, bowing towards the woman. "I should have been watching where I was going."

The old woman waved her hand dismissively. "Oh no, it's fine. It's so crowded out here today. I've ran into perhaps fifteen people!"

Al laughed politely at her comment, though something about the lady's demeanor seemed familiar… But he couldn't put his finger on what is was. "Well, I have to go, I'm afraid."

"What's the rush?" she said, chuckling. "The day is still young, no?"

He hesitated before speaking, checking to see if Mei was still at the booth. "It is, ma'am, but –"

The old woman got a knowing look in her eyes. "Oh, I _see_ ," she said, winking. "It's a _girl,_ isn't it?"

He blushed. "Well, yes, but she's not – we're not –"

The lady chuckled again. "Don't think I haven't seen you eyeing that young lady in pink over there," she said, gesturing towards Mei.

His blush deepened. "I mean, we're just –"

"Ah, young love!" she swooned, holding her hands to her heart. "I miss that most of all, I think, now that I'm old. Got get her, my boy. And kiss her already, would ya?"

Al watched, stunned, as the old woman disappeared into the crowd. _What was that about…?_ He shook his head to clear his mind. _It doesn't matter now._ He quickly started walking to the booth that Mei was – thank Truth – still at. He was about five feet behind her when she turned around and flung her arms around him.

"Alphonse-sama!" she said excitedly. "I _knew_ I'd sensed your chi." She let go of him and stepped back. "I'm sorry about abandoning you back there."

He laughed nervously, praying she didn't notice the red blush dusting his cheeks due to the fact she'd hugged him. "It's fine. I finally understand why you were so excited to come here."

She smirked at him. "Aha! I knew you'd be happy that I made – er, I mean _asked_ – you to come!"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't make me admit it…"

She giggled. "Well, I'm just happy that you're learning the value of free time. _And_ you get to spend it with Xiao Mei and me, so you should feel incredibly lucky."

He laughed, cheeks turning a darker crimson from her compliment. "Yeah, I'm definitely the luckiest guy here today." Embarrassed as he was, he knew he was being honest. He noticed Mei's cheeks dust over with pink at his words.

But then the black-haired princess just beamed at him. "Of course you are! This is your first time trying so many of these dishes, right?"

"Ah. Right." Al turned to face the vendor, who was watching their conversation with an amused look in his eyes. "So… What do we have here?"

Instantly, the vendor's expression changed from amused to business-like. "Well, I was just showing the young lady here some of Xing's finest orange chicken, an incredibly popular dish here, as well a very _simple_ one. You might see it at some other booths, but I assure you, sir, none of it is as good as mine."

He raised a brow, skeptical. "What makes yours so much better than the rest?"

The vendor gestured for him to come closer, and then whispered, "You see, sir, mine has a secret ingredient that has been passed down in my family for generations!"

Upon hearing that, Al felt a sudden wave of nostalgia, for it had been Major Armstrong's catchphrase to say that artistic alchemy had been a skill passed down in his family for generations. _I haven't seen everyone in almost a year now. I wonder if –_

"It honestly is quite delicious, Alphonse-sama," Mei said, interrupting his thoughts. "He allowed me to have a free sample, and it contained spices I haven't ever had with orange chicken before."

The vendor nodded eagerly. "Trust the young lady, sir! It's also complimented by our spring or egg rolls, as well as some of these steamed or sautéed vegetables."

Mei was practically drooling at this point. "Uwaah, that sounds so good!"

Al nearly laughed at how cute she looked. "Well, it _is_ almost 1:30," he teased, "and we _still_ haven't eaten lunch yet…"

"Please!" she begged. "Let's get food from here!"

"I don't know…"

"It looks so good!"

"But there are a lot of other booths…"

"Yes, and we've been to most of them! And it's not like we can't get dinner from another booth later."

"C'mon," the vendor said, smiling. "Treat the little lady here."

"Even if you don't eat here," Mei added, " _I_ will buy _myself_ food from this lovely gentlemen."

Al laughed upon realizing he was stuck between the two. "Okay, okay, I get it." He reached for his wallet, only to realize it wasn't in his pocket. "Er…" He looked up to see a smirking Xingese princess, a wallet dangling on a chain from her hand. "Mei, what are you doing?"

"I'm preventing you from paying," she said simply. "You always pay for food whenever we go out for the day, so now it's my turn." She placed his wallet in a hidden pocket on the inside of her dress, exchanging it for her own silk one with cherry blossoms embroidered on it. " _I'll_ get our food. You go find a table."

He sighed. "Mei, I'm your guest, so I should pay."

"That's exactly why you _shouldn't_ pay, dummy!"

"Mei –"

"I told you to go find a table, Alphonse-sama. Why are you still here?"

He rolled his eyes but left, unable to stop an amused smile from appearing on his lips.

xxxxxxxxx

Mei watched him walk away, only releasing the breath she'd been holding when he was completely out of sight. Then she realized she hadn't asked what he wanted. She cursed herself internally. _You're an absolute_ genius, _Mei Chang._ She turned back to the vendor, a forced smile on her face.

"So, what will you be having?" the vendor asked, rolling up his sleeves. "We've got a lot to choose from, so feel free to take a bit of everything."

She snorted softly to herself. As if she'd fall for that age-old trick to get someone to spend more money. Then she sighed. "What's the 'special'?"

The vendor grinned. "Well, we have _two_ different specials today, seeing as it's the Měishí Jié, and both are extremely delicious, if I do say so myself."

She gave him a tight smile. "What _are_ they, if you don't mind my asking?" Mei wasn't sure why she was suddenly in such a short-tempered mood. _Maybe it's because Alphonse-sama and I argued?_ She blushed at the thought. _No, I'm being silly. I'm probably hungry._

The vendor laughed. "Of course, of course! The first is orange chicken with steamed vegetables and a spring roll – many consider this the 'healthier' option, if that matters to you – and the second is orange chicken with _sautéed_ vegetables and an egg roll."

Mei frowned. He had no right to assume she wanted to get whatever was healthier! _Although, it is true,_ she silently conceded. As a martial artist and an alkahetrist, she always went to great lengths to take care of her body. _Still…_ "I'll take one of each," she said. "How much?"

"6,309 yen, please."

She frowned at how expensive it was, but she knew that such a thing was to be expected at a festival. She reluctantly took the money out of her wallet and handed it to the vendor, who grinned as he took it and then proceeded to scoop food into Styrofoam boxes for her.

"Here you go, young lady," he said, handing it to her.

She thanked him with a small smile before leaving, walking off in the direction Alphonse had gone in, doing her best to follow the trail his chi had left behind. _Right, left… Left again… He stopped here, for some reason… Right from here…_ The Xingese princess may have been focusing a little too much on following the blonde Amestrian's chi when she should have been looking where she was going, because she accidentally rammed into someone's back, sending the boxes of food flying into the air.

Mei gasped as the boxes soared above her head. Years of training were the only thing that allowed her to catch one box while sliding into a split to catch the other before it hit the floor. She sighed in relief before standing and bowing several times to the person she had bumped into. "I'm so sorry! I should have been paying more attention to where I was going!"

The person chuckled. "It's fine, dearie. People have been bumping into me all day, and I have been doing the same to them. It's like a sea of people out here!"

Mei looked up to see who had run into. _An old lady?!_ She instantly felt even worse about the incident. "Oh my Truth, ma'am, I am so, _so_ sorry!" She buried her head in hands. Or she attempted to, seeing as she was still holding the boxes of food. "I should have been more careful, and –"

Mei felt the elderly woman place her frail hands on her shoulders. "Honestly, honey," she said, "don't beat yourself up over it. It could have happened to anyone."

She sniffed, wiping away the tears that were spilling out of her eyes. _Oh, Truth…_ "I'm sorry…"

"Now, now," the lady said, pulling her into a hug. "Don't cry."

Mei nodded, letting herself fall into the hug. It felt… Familiar, somehow. She slowly pulled away, a small smile on her face. "Thank you. And once again, I'm sorry for running into you."

The old woman laughed it off, waving her hand airily. "No need to apologize. " She looked closer at the petite girl standing in front of her. "Hmm… I feel like I might know you from somewhere…"

"It's certainly possible. Xing is a very large country."

"Hmm… Oh! I know!"

"You do?" Mei asked curiously. The woman might have recognized _her_ from somewhere, but she had never seen the old lady before.

"Yes! You're the girl that handsome young man with the golden hair and eyes was looking for earlier!"

Mei blushed. "Y-You've spoken to Alphonse-sama?"

"I have!" The elderly woman chuckled. "He actually bumped into me earlier, just as you did. He was looking for you at the time, if memory serves."

Mei's blushed increased by a hundredfold. "H-He was?" she squeaked.

The lady nodded. "Oh, yes." She winked at the black-haired girl. "You've got yourself quite a good one, my dear. Very caring. Handsome, too."

"Th-That's very kind of you, but he's not – _I'm_ not –"

"Ah, denial! Such a sincere form of love!"

"But –"

"I should let you go now, honey. He's waiting for you over there, you know." She pointed off to her right, and sure enough, Alphonse was sitting rather awkwardly at an empty table. "Best of luck!" She leaned in towards Mei's ear and added, "If he goes in for a kiss, don't stop him!" At that, the old woman walked away, leaving Mei staring in embarrassment at empty air.

xxxxxxxxx

Al sighed in exasperation as a piece of orange chicken fell back into his box for the umpteenth time. "I swear," he grumbled, "that I will never understand the ways of this world."

Mei laughed at his disgruntled expression. "What do you mean?"

"How can I not use a pair of stupid chopsticks," he said in frustration, brandishing the wooden pair he held in his hand, "but I was able to learn the concepts of alkahestry – an extremely complex science – within five minutes?! Can you explain that to me?"

"I don't think there's any explanation but your lack of coordination," she said amongst her giggles.

He raised an eyebrow at her comment. "Is that so? How am I able to spar so well, then?"

She grinned mischievously at him. "I don't know. I will never understand the ways of this world."

He glared at the short princess for taking the words he'd said only a minute earlier and turning them in her favor. "Ha ha ha, Mei. That was so funny."

"Oh, I know."

Al simply rolled his eyes.

"If it makes you feel any better," she said, expertly twirling her chopsticks between her fingers, "Xingese children are taught to use chopsticks at a young age – I started learning at 3 – that way the motor skills are ingrained in our bodies for the rest of their lives."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" he said skeptically. "If anything, I feel like such a foreigner right now."

Mei giggled. "I didn't finish, dummy. I'm really good with chopsticks, but when I got to Amestris, I was so confused when I was told to use a fork that I thought it was some sort of weapon."

He burst out laughing. "What did you do?"

She shrugged, a faint blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. "I mean, I started to compare it to my kunai, and then I asked someone why the center of gravity of the fork _wasn't_ in the center. Thankfully the person sitting next to me explained how I was supposed to use it after that."

Al grinned. "Well, at least you know now that forks aren't weapons, or else I'd be too scared to eat dinner with you in a place that had forks." He tried once again to pick up his chicken with the chopsticks, Mei's blush going unnoticed. That time he succeeded – somewhat.

He managed to slowly lift the chicken to his mouth, but his grip on the chopsticks was so tight that it caused the chicken to pop _out_ from between them before he could put it in his mouth. He watched in horror as the chicken went flying across the table and hit a certain Xingese princess in the face. His jaw dropped as the chicken seemed to slide down her cheek in slow motion before falling onto the table.

Apparently in shock, Mei tentatively touched her cheek where the chicken had been only moments before. "Wha…?"

Al covered his mouth to smother his laughter at the look of surprise on her face. He laughed harder when she gave him an icy glare, only to stop abruptly when that glare became a smirk. He gulped at the dangerous glint in the girl's brown eyes.

"Oh, it's _on_ ," she said before picking up a piece of chicken with her hand not occupied by chopsticks and throwing it at him. It landed _smack_ in the middle of his forehead.

He froze as the chicken slid down his forehead and bounced off his nose, landing on the table. He stared at it for what felt like hours before grabbing a handful of vegetables from his box and throwing it at her.

Mei squealed as she ducked in an attempt to avoid them, only to get back up within the blink of an eye, throwing some of her own vegetables at him.

 _And so it began._

Food flew back and forth between the alkahetrists, each one doing their best to avoid getting hit while trying to hit the other person.

Al soon learned that while he wasn't terrific at dodging, he could throw the food a lot harder and faster than Mei could.

Mei knew immediately that her strengths would be her ability to dodge the food thrown at her quickly and the fact that she could catch some it with her chopsticks, but with that came the weakness of her offensive skills – aka her 'attacks'.

At one point, Al had thrown a huge handful of chicken and vegetables at the Xingese girl.

She'd been able to dodge almost all of them, but upon noticing two pieces of chicken flying at her face, she'd thrown her chopsticks with deadly aim, impaling them and knocking them down to the table, only to have a sliced carrot hit her face during the spilt second her guard had been down. Mei had retaliated by throwing a barrage of her vegetables at the blonde alchemist.

Al knocked most of them away with his hands, but the ones he missed hit him directly in the face. He smirked nonetheless, proceeding to throw Mei's chopsticks – that were still inside the pieces of chicken – off the table. "You just lost one of your biggest advantages."

She laughed evilly. "Oh, I don't think so." In a spilt second she'd produced five kunai from inside her dress.

Al blanched, holding up a white flag that had seemingly appeared from nowhere. "I surrender."

She giggled, putting her kunai away before sticking out a hand for him to shake. "Truce?"

He laughed, nodding. "Truce." They shook on it.

"You put up a pretty good fight," Mei said, eyes twinkling.

"Of course," he said teasingly. "I learned from the best, after all." He stared at the girl in front of him. Despite the fact that she was covered head-to-toe in at least a dozen different Xingese foods and sauces, she was still beautiful. The old woman's words from before suddenly came to mind.

 _And kiss her already, would ya?_

He blushed at the memory.

"Izumi Curtis, right?" Mei said inquisitively. Her eyes drifted over the blonde man in front of her. Yes, he was covered in chicken and vegetables, but that didn't matter. His chi was glowing as brightly as ever. The elderly lady's advice appeared all of a sudden in her thoughts.

 _If he goes in for a kiss, don't stop him!_

Her cheeks turned a deep crimson from the recollection.

"Actually," Al said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, "I was talking about you." He leaned in, heart racing, and kissed her.

Mei's eyes fluttered shut as he did so, praying that he couldn't hear how loud her heart was beating.

The moment their lips touched, it was like a jolt of electricity went through the both of them. It lasted but a moment, yet it felt like hours.

Al slowly pulled away, cheeks burning.

"Wha-What was that for?" Mei stuttered, not meeting his eyes.

He bit his lip. "You, uh… You had something on your face."

She scowled at him. "And I wonder whose fault _that_ might be?"

He laughed, still blushing. "Fair enough."

After an awkward pause, she spoke again. "Well… Did you get it off?"

He smiled at her. "Yeah. I think I did."

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 ***Bonus***

Ling started to cheer in excitement when he saw Alphonse and Mei kiss. "Lan Fan! Lan Fan! WE DID IT! THEY'RE TOGETHER! AT LONG LAST!"

Lan Fan sighed. "Yes, Young Master. You did well in setting them up in such a way."

The Xingese Emperor smirked at his favorite bodyguard, who was reluctantly holding a gray wig in her normal hand as she stood beside him. "I _told_ you that this old lady costume was foolproof!"

His enthusiasm was infectious, and Lan Fan found herself smiling. "It certainly was, Young Master."

Ling suddenly frowned. "Now that they're together, I'm going to have to give Alphonse the talk on not hurting my baby sister unless he wants to be executed."

"Of course," Lan Fan said, choosing simply to roll her eyes.

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 **And, done. How many of you figured out Ling was the old lady? Answer honestly, or an old lady will show up out of nowhere and start asking** ** _you_** **random questions. ;-P I hope you enjoyed Prompt 3 of AlMei Week 2016, and I'll back tomorrow with Prompt 4: Connections.**


	4. Connections

**Greetings to you all, and welcome back to another day of AlMei Week 2016.**

 **…**

 **I don't know what else to say. Today I'm doing Prompt 4: Connections. I'm aiming for it to be a bit more of a drabble than the others have been, because normally I try to exceed 3,000 words or get close to it. Tell me if you think I do okay or not. But if this ends up** ** _not_** **being a drabble, then I'll be laughing at myself in the A/N at the bottom of the page. Sound good to you? If it doesn't, I don't care, because I'm da author right now. You don't like, you leave. Simple! XD Here's Prompt 4: Connections.**

 **Disclaimer:** I'm just a gal with no life who certainly does _not_ own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Connections

Al did _not_ think he was ready for this, even though Mei insisted that he definitely was. There was just no way he could do it. It was just impossible. So he kept trying to talk the pretty Xingese alkahetrist out of it. "Mei…" he said nervously. "Are you _sure_ you want to do this?"

Mei rolled her eyes. Yes, she understood his anxiety, but it really wasn't such a big deal. "Alphonse-sama, I've lost count of the number of times we've been over this! It'll be completely fine. Whether you believe it or not, you _are_ ready for this. It'll be a good experience."

He sighed. "I don't understand how you think I'll be able to beat you. I've only been learning how to use kunai for maybe a year now, and you've been doing it for…" He realized he had no idea. "How long _have_ you been using kunai?"

She frowned. "Hmm… I guess since I was five? I know that I've been working with them for pretty much my whole life."

Al blanched. Well, _that_ news had not given him any confidence. In fact, it had made him _lose_ any remote confidence that had still been in him. _I am so screwed._

Mei laughed at his terrified expression. "I can go easy on you, if you want."

Despite having the knowledge that there was no way he could win, the blonde alchemist wanted it to be fair. "No," he said stubbornly. "If you're making me fight you all out, then you should go all out, too."

She gave him a small smile. "You Elrics. Always so fair about everything."

He shrugged. "I guess that's one way to put it."

She pouted. "But I want it to be fair, too." Inspiration struck. "Ooh! I know!"

"Know what?"

"How to make this a fair fight without having to make myself hold back."

Regardless of the sinking feeling in his stomach, Al was curious as to what she had planned. "What do you suggest we do?"

The black-haired princess had a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You'll see. I'll be right back!" At that, she took off running towards her house, leaving Al watching her, dumbstruck.

xxxxxxxxx

Mei returned to the training field after maybe five minutes, a piece of fabric in her hands.

"What's that for?" Al asked.

She beamed. "I'm going to blindfold myself! Then it'll be fair!"

He gaped. "H-How?! You won't be able to see anything!"

She rolled her eyes. As intelligent as Alphonse was, he was still a boy, and boys could be incredibly dense. "I don't need my eyes to see, Alphonse-sama," she patiently explained. "I've been working with chi since birth. Plus, your chi is like a beacon compared to everything else here."

He blushed slightly at her words, though he wasn't sure why. "It is?"

She nodded. "Yup! I believe it's because we're such close friends. They say that the more connected you are to someone, the easier it is to sense their chi, and the brighter their chi appears to you."

"I guess that explains how I was able to sense your chi so easily, even before I had a lot of training," he said with a nervous laugh.

Mei's cheeks reddened, and she responded with a nervous laugh of her own. "I guess that's why!" She quickly changed the subject after that. "Now, could you tie the blindfold around my head?"

Still blushing, Al nodded and took the piece of fabric from her. He waited as she pinned her long black hair on top of her head in two knots before carefully wrapping the cloth around her eyes and tying it at the nape of her neck, doing his best to avoid catching any of her shorter hair in the knot. "Is it too tight?" he asked quietly.

"N-No," she stuttered, flustered by the feeling of his warms hands tracing her neck, albeit unintentionally. "I-It's fine." She quickly stepped away from him after that. "Now, go hide somewhere and try to surprise me with a sneak attack."

He couldn't help but laugh at her contradictory statement. "Well, since you know I'm going to do it, it's not much of a sneak attack, now is it?"

She scowled at him. Or his chi, anyways. "Alright, _Mr. Smarty-pants._ I see your point. But I won't know _where_ you're going to attack from."

He laughed again. "Okay, okay, I get it. Try not to follow my chi."

Mei rolled her eyes, then remembered he couldn't see them. She settled with an impatient tone of voice. "Go hide already."

"Yes ma'am." Al started to walk away, then paused. "How much time do I have to find a good spot?"

"Hmm…" She bit her lip, thinking. "Five minutes should be plenty of time."

He grinned at her, even though her eyes were covered. "Alright. Five minutes." He took off running after that.

She sighed as she felt his chi diminish. _Well, guess I'll be sitting here awhile._

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Al had found a pretty good spot to start in, if he said so himself. He'd taken advantage of the five minutes Mei had given him by setting up alkahestry circles everywhere. His plan was to send a huge spike of energy to each of them to hopefully confuse and trick Mei into thinking it was him, or at least distract her. Though he had been certain that failure was inevitable just minutes earlier, he had a little more confidence now that the Xingese princess was blindfolded.

"Time!" Mei called from her spot in the middle of the field. _He can come from any direction. Be prepared for anything._ She took a deep breath and opened what she liked to call her second sight. In other words, how she perceived chi everywhere. _His chi is the brightest._

Al wasted no time after hearing the girl's voice, quickly using alkahestry to set off some of the circles he'd set up before starting to run closer to the petite alkahetrist.

There was a huge spike of energy to her right, causing Mei to spin on her heel. But it vanished as quickly as it came. _Odd…_ Her eyes widened underneath the blindfold. _Is he…?_ She smirked. Long distance traps to create jolts of incredible energy to take her attention away from his chi. _Not bad, but you've forgotten, Alphonse-sama… I've used that before._

Al almost laughed upon seeing the girl turn around so quickly to figure out where the energy had come from. Even though he would have liked to watch her reaction longer, he knew that Mei was sharp and had probably already gotten over her shock and was most likely trying to find his chi. He set off three more traps in rapid succession, starting to quickly making his way towards her again after doing so.

Mei took a deep breath, ignoring the energy that had suddenly shot up in three different locations around her. _Focus. Find the steady source. That's where Alphonse-sama will be._

There it was.

She could sense a strong chi coming from her left. _He's to the south – no, southeast – of me, and he's coming at about ten miles per hour… He's not rushing. He wants me to be distracted._

Al stopped again to set off more traps. But when he started to run again, he was at full speed, kunai positioned in his hand just as Mei had taught him.

 _He stopped? Why?_ She was suddenly overwhelmed by another two huge spikes of energy. _Ah. That's why. Wait… He's speeding up. He's full-on sprinting. He's –_ She cursed internally, jumping into the air and barely managing to avoid the five kunai that had come flying at her. _Well, he's here now._

Al was stunned to see Mei dodge his kunai, but he couldn't allow that to distract him for long. Especially because he had now had five kunai being thrown at _him_. He wasn't as agile as Mei, but he was able to successfully knock them to the side using one of his kunai as a shield-slash-deflector. However, that left him unprepared for the kick aimed at his chest.

Mei smirked as she felt her foot hit its target with a solid _thump_ , and a grunt as the blonde alchemist was shoved backwards. She held her arms up in a fighting stance before throwing another set of her kunai at the brilliant chi she could sense in front of her.

He coughed roughly as the breath was knocked out of him, making him stumble backwards. He was _just_ able to dodge the second set of kunai the blindfolded girl threw at him. Instead of hitting _him_ – or rather, his clothes, as he _hoped_ that was her intention – they hit the tree behind him with a soft _thud._

Upon sensing him duck, Mei quickly fired off a roundhouse kick from her left leg, only to have it blocked. She suddenly detected movement from his other fist, so she hastily grabbed it with her right hand as he tried to punch her and proceeded to use the propulsion to flip over his head and land on the ground behind him.

Al gaped at the petite girl's lightning fast movements. _There's no way I can beat her._ But she'd kill him if he stopped and gave up, so he simply turned around and aimed a sidekick at her. Surprisingly, it made contact, hitting her right in the stomach.

Mei winced as she felt his foot slam into her, but it was a necessary hit. She grabbed his leg with her left arm, using her right to throw her kunai on the ground underneath the blonde Amestrian. She released his leg while etching an alkahestry circle in the ground with her foot before placing her hands on it.

Al wasn't entirely sure what he had just witnessed. All he knew was that Mei was a demon and she had just trapped him with alkahestry. A shock of energy traveled through his body, making him fall to the ground, steam coming off of his clothes. "I surrender," he squeaked.

Mei frowned upon hearing that. "You should never surrender!" she chastised. "Especially when you could still win this."

He rolled his eyes, even though he knew she couldn't see it. "I have my doubts about that."

"You said that before you started! But you still came up with a brilliant plan."

He snorted. "Sure, but it was one you expected."

" _Actually,_ I didn't expect anything like that. If I hadn't done that to Envy all those years ago, I probably would have been so confused to the point that I wouldn't have sensed you coming at all."

Al facepalmed. " _That's_ how you figured it out. Because you've done it before. I'm an idiot."

Mei crossed her arms over her chest. "You are _not_ an idiot, Alphonse-sama. You are incredibly smart. I hadn't even _considered_ the idea of traps until you did it. So get up off the ground. We're doing this again."

Al chuckled at her indignant attitude. _She never gives up, does she?_ He also noticed that the Xingese girl looked cute despite her mussed attire, her pout making her appear even more so. Suddenly, an idea came to mind. "Um… Are there any _rules_ to this?"

"None other than no maiming, I suppose," she answered, surprised. "Why?"

"Just wondering." He stood up, brushing himself off. "Before we start again, there's something I want to do."

"What?"

"This." Al walked over to the blindfold girl, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her. Even though it was a part of his plan, he couldn't help but notice how soft her lips were, and how nice it felt to have them pressed against his.

The moment he had gotten within a foot of her, Mei had blushed at how close he was. But when he'd taken her face and crashed his lips onto hers, she was certain her cheeks had to be as red as a fully-ripened cherry. When he pulled away, she immediately ducked her head, even though her eyes were covered by a blindfold. "Wha… What was that for…?

Al grinned. "To get these."

She heard a familiar clinking noise. Her kunai. "Did you…?"

"Don't leave yourself open like that. In a real fight, you could get seriously hurt."

"WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND DISTRACTS A GIRL WITH A KISS?!"

"Probably more people than you think."

"Whatever," she huffed, still humiliated. "That doesn't count, anyway."

He smirked. "Why not?"

"BECAUSE IT WASN'T FAIR!"

"You said yourself that the only rule was to not maim."

"That didn't you give you the right to take my first kiss, you idiot!"

He sweatdropped. "Your… First kiss?"

She rolled her eyes underneath the blindfold. "Um, _yes_. I'm only sixteen, Alphonse-sama, and most of those years have been spent learning alkahestry with my _female_ teacher and putting up with all of annoying _sisters._ The only boys I've spent an extended amount of time around are you and Scar-san. And I suppose Ling and your annoying pipsqueak of a brother as well."

Al suddenly felt horrible. He remembered Winry going on about how excited she was to have her first kiss – even though she'd only been eight at the time – but it had never occurred to him that a first kiss might be such a big deal for other girls, too. Especially not _Mei._ "Um…" he said nervously. "Is there… Gah, I don't know! Do you want to make it up to you somehow?"

"Well, first thing you can do is take off this stupid blindfold, because I'm tired of not being able to glare at you properly," she said, arms crossed over her chest once again as she turned around to give him access to the knot that held the blindfold on her face.

"Okay," he said before gently trying to untie it. The knot was more difficult then he remembered while tying it, but after much trial and error, he succeeded.

Mei sighed in relief as the fabric fell from over her eyes. "Thank Truth it's off."

"Now what?"

She'd turned around to face the blonde Amestrian and looked him square in the eyes. "Give me my second kiss, you dolt."

"Wha –?!" He was cut off by her lips being pressed against his as she grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him down to her level. When she pushed him back, she was smirking.

"I got them back." In her right hand she held a dozen shiny kunai.

Al groaned. "Are you kidding me?" He'd fallen for his own trick.

She giggled. "Not at all." In her left hand she held _his_ kunai. "Victory is mine." She playfully stuck her tongue out at him. "You shouldn't let your guard down, Alphonse-sama! Someone might take advantage of it."

He rolled his eyes at hearing his own words sent back at him. "I'm getting a sense of déjà vu here."

"And so you should be." Mei started to leave, but then stopped. "By the way, Alphonse-sama, you _did_ steal my first kiss."

He sweatdropped again. "Yeah… Sorry about that."

"Don't be stupid," she scoffed. "You're the one I _wanted_ my first kiss to come from. It just didn't go at all how I'd thought." At that, the Xingese princess walked away, leaving a blushing Alphonse Elric behind her.

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 **And that's that. Yeah, I didn't stick the prompt as much as I would have liked, but who cares? It was a prompt. I used it a bit then took it off in my own direction. That's what prompts are for. And it also wasn't as drabble-y as I meant for it to be. Whatever. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll be back tomorrow with Prompt 5: Blood.**


	5. Blood

**I'm back with another oneshot! Not my best handiwork, I'll admit. But that's okay. Why? Because I LOVE LOVE LOVE tomorrow's topic! If you don't know what it is, you'll find out at the end of this oneshot. If you do know, get excited, because I** ** _really_** **like what I have prepared for tomorrow. But enough chatting. Here is Prompt 5: Blood.**

 **Disclaimer:** I can't think of anything creative today. Just read the fic.

Blood

Mei Chang was afraid of blood.

 _No,_ she corrected herself. It wasn't she was afraid of blood… She was afraid of _Alphonse Elric's_ blood.

She frowned. _No, that's not it either._ She wasn't necessarily afraid of his blood…

She was afraid to see him bleed.

Why?

Perhaps it had to be fully explained. You see, when Mei first met the blonde alchemist, he had not been blonde. He'd been a giant gray suit of armor. A literal and metaphorical shield. Something – _No, someone,_ she chastised herself – meant to protect others. Back then, Alphonse Elric had been an impenetrable wall, in all senses and meanings of those words.

He couldn't be harmed by things that would easily kill the average human. For instance, bullets, her kunai, drowning, strangulation, and nearly everything else had no effect on him. Not only was he impenetrable, but he was at the point where many would consider him to be immortal. Assuming they had no idea about his blood seal, of course.

She smiled softly upon remembering how Alphonse had protected her from Father for the first time, going so far as to put her _inside_ his armor – despite her technically being an enemy of him at the time – where she had had complete access to his blood seal. He still protected her from King Bradley with the knowledge that she could kill him at any time. His immense amount of trust was another of the reasons her twelve-year-old self had transferred her affections from the elder Elric onto the younger – not that she'd ever confess that to him, of course.

From that moment on, Mei had decided that Alphonse was going to forever be the wall that stood between her and whatever danger there was. The wall that would protect her and keep her safe from anything and everything. The wall that would never be broken down.

Mei Chang had never seen Alphonse Elric bleed. And that was how she wanted it to stay.

Yes, she _had_ seen numerous other terrifying and heat-breaking things happen to his armored body.

She'd never forget looking up to see his arms spread out to protect _her_ , the front of his body completely shattered, and though she couldn't see it, she could _feel_ his chi weakening, signifying a crack in his blood seal. He'd almost died to protect her.

And then she'd killed him.

Alphonse didn't like it when she said it like that. He'd always go on and on about how it wasn't her fault, how _he'd_ chosen to sacrifice himself to get his brother's arm back, and that she had only been helping him – _unwillingly,_ nonetheless. Therefore she had no reason to say it had been her fault. It had been his decision.

She understood why he said this, of course. But still… She'd never forget watching the life fade from his armored eyes, seeing his blood seal practically shatter – and knowing _she_ had caused it, his choice or not. Her heart had practically broken after that.

Despite the immense pain in her chest, she hadn't been _afraid,_ per say. There had been no blood. There had been no familiar coppery scent, no gleaming red liquid for her to see. The lack of that key part almost took away the feeling of death. She could almost forgot he was dying, pretending he was simply sleeping instead.

Even after that, when Edward had returned with a frail but completely human Alphonse, there had been no blood. Every bone in his body was visible, his skin had been a sickly shade of white, but everything about him had been pure and unblemished. He'd gone through a personal hell and had come out unscathed, in a manner of speaking.

Mei knew this best, she felt, since she'd immediately thrown herself onto him while sobbing after seeing him come back alive and unharmed. She'd felt his heartbeat, sensed his chi, and could tell that everything about him was stronger in ways they hadn't been before.

And then, just minutes later, she'd been forced to return to Xing.

It was true she'd missed her homeland dearly. But not being able to stay and make sure everyone was going to be okay – _Especially Scar-san and Alphonse-sama,_ she thought – nearly made her sick from worry. She'd retched several times on the journey back to Xing. Ling had even had to carry her a few stretches. She apologized several times, but he insisted it was the least he could do since he'd essentially taken the Philosopher's Stone from her. She'd protested, saying protecting the Chang clan was more than enough, but he'd stubbornly shook his head.

She smiled just remembering it. Ling was the best brother – or half-brother – she could ever have asked for. Even if he did eat all her food when he visited and was too overprotective of her. _I can fight better than him! Honestly._

After arriving back in Xing, Mei had only found comfort in her little panda and the knowledge that she could write letters to Alphonse. It wasn't as if letters could bleed, anyways. But…

For two years, they'd sent each other letters every month.

For two years, she'd only been able to do her best to remember his voice and try to imagine what he now must have looked like.

For two years, Mei had been incredibly lonely.

But as the saying went, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

She believed that with all her heart to be true.

When Alphonse had finally decided to come to Xing so she could teach him alkahestry, Mei had been absolutely overjoyed.

Three months had passed since he'd made that choice. It had taken him a month to cross the desert – _At least he doesn't have automail like Edward,_ she realized, snickering to herself – and his first three weeks had been spent in Ling's palace completing paperwork.

He'd also been receiving what Ling called 'heart-to-heart' talks. _Strange…_ Alphonse-sama still hadn't told her what those were about.

When all of that had been completed, he'd finally been able to come stay with her. When she had gotten to see him for the first time, and vice versa… It had been a moment she'd never forget.

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 ***Flashback begins***

 _"Xiao Mei, what should I do?" the pretty Xingese princess said frantically. "Alphonse-sama is going to be here in less than five minutes!" She quickly looked at herself in the mirror. "Do I look okay? Should I change?"_

 _The small panda resting on her shoulder squeaked in exasperation, as if to say, "You look fine. You're getting worked up over nothing."_

 _Mei laughed. "You're right. I'm just overreacting, aren't I?" She laughed again. "Not that that's an unusual thing."_

 _Suddenly, there was a knock at her door._

 _She gulped, taking one last look at herself before running to the front of her house. "Comingggggggg!" She opened the door to reveal a tall and_ very _handsome blonde-haired man with golden eyes._

 _"It's been a long time hasn't it," he said with a smile, "Mei?"_

 _Her brown eyes widened before filling with tears. She threw her arms around him, though his broad chest meant she couldn't quite reach around him all the way. "Alphonse-sama! I missed you so much!"_

 _Alphonse laughed, embracing her back. "I missed you, too."_

 _She pulled away, beaming. "You've gotten so much taller! And healthier, too! It's nice to see you not entirely skin and bones anymore."_

 _"Yeah, I have to agree with you there." He looked the small girl over. "You've changed, too. You're taller, and, uh –" He stopped suddenly, his cheeks turning red._

 _"And what?" she asked curiously, not noticing his eyes were staring at her chest._

 _He quickly tore his gaze away. "And – And your hairstyle has changed!" he said hastily, awkwardly patting the girl on the head._

 _Mei unconsciously blushed at his touch. "Y-Yes!" she stuttered. "I-It has."_

 _"It looks cute on you."_

 _"Really?" Her brown eyes were full of excitement. "That's so sweet! I was worried you wouldn't like it, but –" She realized she was rambling, and still hadn't let him inside her house. "Oh! Please come in!"_

 ***Flashback ends***

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The first week after Alphonse had arrived had been a lot of chatting and catching up with each other, as well as a few tours of various places in Xing. Not to mention getting used to having the presence of another person in the house, though that really only applied to the Xingese princess. More than once had Mei forgotten he was there and pulled out her kunai out of habit on him. But they'd eventually gotten used to it, and everything soon became routine.

After that first week had passed, it had become strictly business – Monday through Friday, anyway. Mei worked hard to teach him alkahestry, and he did his best to learn from her. There were a few issues at first, but once those had been worked out, Alphonse had grasped both the concepts and theories of alkahestry quite quickly. Mei had never once missed a chance to brag about her prodigy of a student – even though it embarrassed him – at any sort of gatherings Ling held and required them to attend. Within two weeks, she was able to move on to direct alkahestry transmutation.

xxxxxxxxx

 ***Flashback begins***

 _"Before I even let you_ try _to transmute," Mei said rather crossly, "you have to understand exactly how you're going to make it alkahestry and not alchemy. So answer me: do you know the difference?"_

 _Alphonse laughed nervously. "I know the_ technical _difference, but I'm not sure if I can make the execution different."_

 _She sighed. "That's what I was worried about. Luckily, it's not too complicated. Remember, the only way this type of alkahestry is similar to alchemy is the fact that you aren't transmuting over a long distance. Got that?"_

 _He nodded._

 _"Good. As you claimed to know, the technical difference between alkahestry and alchemy is that alchemy uses the energy from the Earth's shifting tectonic plates, while alkahestry harnesses the energy of the Dragon's Pulse. If anyone tells you that they're the same thing with different names, please, slap them for me."_

 _He laughed at the frown resting on the tiny girl's pretty features. "Check. I have permission to slap people if they're wrong."_

 _"Especially Edward."_

 _"You don't have to tell me that."_

 _Mei giggled, then realized she'd accidentally broken her strict exterior. She cleared her throat and put on a harsh expression again. "If you don't remember that fact when you're transmuting, if you slip up for even just a_ second _, the alkahestry circle will be immediately rendered invalid and the transmutation will either become alchemic or blow up in your face."_

 _He frowned. "Literally or figuratively?"_

 _She grinned evilly. "Who knows? But trust me when I say it's better to not mess up."_

 _He gulped. "Yes ma'am."_

 _"The easiest way to avoid making a mistake is to focus on the circle itself. Alkahestry circles have entirely different designs than alchemic ones, so if you're continuously acknowledging that fact, it shouldn't be hard to remember what you're trying to do."_

 _Alphonse grinned at his teacher. "Well, with you as my instructor, I don't think I have anything to worry about."_

 _Mei blushed before glaring at him. "Flattery will get you nowhere! It's not as if I can transmute for you!"_

 _He laughed. "Understood, ma'am."_

 ***Flashback ends***

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It had taken Alphonse a full month before he'd finally perfected the direct alkahestry transmutation, but he'd done it – no explosions necessary. Unless he was _trying_ to blow something up, of course. The only exception had been when he'd unintentionally electrocuted his teacher and her panda – which had resulted in him having to dodge several kunai – but that's a story for another time.

And that brought her to today, when Mei Chang was going to give Alphonse Elric his first lesson on long-distance alkahestry, starting with the most important part – throwing the kunai. "In a few minutes I'm going to let you start with one kunai," she said, "and add one each time as you get better, but I want to first show you how the number of kunai affects alkahestry. You can transmute long-distance with only one, but the transmutation gets stronger with each one _added_. Five is the ideal number, because it represent the points of the star on the inside of the alkahestry circle. Also, transmutations are best when you have kunai aligned with the points of the circle you have _drawn,_ but they aren't required. Just highly recommended. Understand?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You'll probably try to kill me for saying this, but it reminds me of alchemy in a few ways."

She shot him a death glare. "You're lucky you're so good at this, or else I'd turn you over to Ling to be flayed alive."

He sweatdropped. "They… Do they really still do that?"

She smirked evilly. "No. But exceptions are made every so often."

He laughed nervously. "Let's be rational here…"

She continued to grin evilly for only a few more seconds before bursting out into giggles. "You're so gullible, Alphonse-sama!"

"Wait…" He gaped at the girl. "You were joking?!"

"Of course! You think I'd actually send you off to get flayed?"

"No…?"

She sighed. "I'm not that cruel."

He snorted. "I have my doubts about that." Then he smiled at her. "I'm glad people aren't flayed alive here."

"I didn't say that."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "But –"

She held up a hand to silence him. "I said _you_ wouldn't be flayed alive. Who knows what Ling will do to the other people?"

Alphonse shuddered as he imagined Ling laughing with glee as he watched a person getting their skin – _Ugh._ He couldn't even finish the thought. "Xing is scarier than I imagined."

Mei giggled at his disgusted tone. "Alphonse-sama, you haven't even been into the forest yet!"

"And I don't want to _ever_ go there."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a chicken."

"Hey, there's a difference between being a chicken and wanting to live to see tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyways, back to the lesson." She pulled out five kunai. "I'm going to throw these one at a time so you can clearly see how your transmutation strength will increase with each kunai. Starting with one." All it took was a quick flick of her wrist to send a single kunai flying at a tree with five red dots drawn on it. It landed _smack_ on the red dot in the upper right. She instinctively dropped to the ground and placed her hands on the alkahestry circle below her. The single kunai sparked with blue electricity for a brief moment before it disappeared.

"The most that could do is temporarily stun your opponent," Al commented. "It could give you _just_ enough time to escape if you're fast."

She nodded. "Exactly."

"I'm guessing another kunai will pretty much knock them out, then?"

She bit her lip, considering his statement. "Not _exactly,_ but that's the gist of it. Just watch." She threw another kunai into the tree, this one landing on the lower right red dot. This time the transmutation created a longer sparking of the blue electricity before vanishing. "So what difference did you notice?"

"The level of power was the same," he said slowly, "but it lasted longer. Right?"

She beamed. "Precisely! So _now_ how much **quote 'damage' endquote*** do you think adding a second kunai causes?"

He tapped his chin, thinking into it. "Well, the level of power is the same, so I'm guessing it still can't knock anyone completely unconscious. However, since the power is channeled longer – and therefore does increase in total – I'm going to guess it can temporarily paralyze the victim?"

Mei did the 'so-so' gesture with her hand. "You're close. It's not really a _paralysis,_ but it does increase the length of time of how long the target is stunned."

"Got it. And the third…?"

She smiled before throwing the third kunai, hitting the bottom left red mark on the tree perfectly. That time, there was a larger bolt of the blue 'lightning'. "How about you tell me?"

Alphonse laughed at her tone. "I think that'll definitely knock someone out."

"Yep. KO'd completely. However, they won't be 'damaged', per say. No shock injuries to worry about. They're just asleep, for all intents and purposes. And if the transmutation isn't done almost immediately after throwing the kunai, the effect can be lessened to the point where they're only out for three seconds."

"I thought three was the magic number," he joked.

She shook her head. "Not in alkahestry. Our magic number is five – a five tipped star, of course. But before we get to five…" She threw her fourth kunai at the tree, hitting the upper left red mark spot on. A quick transmutation revealed more electricity, though these were sparking a lot more. "Any guesses?"

"A simple electric shock, nothing deadly. Enough energy to knock out your opponent and make them 'sizzle', but they won't die."

"Good! That's better than I could have explained it. Now, five kunai." She held up the final kunai. "Five is tricky. If you've thrown each kunai one at a time, then you'll just get a big jolt of electricity, like so." She demonstrated quickly. "Painful, but not deadly. However, you have to remember that throwing one kunai at a time – though perhaps the best method for beginners – is not wise to use in a conflict. You get the best results throwing all five kunai at once. Any idea why?"

He laughed awkwardly. "Um… It'll kill the target?"

She shrugged. "If you want to. But I hate killing with alkahestry, since its purpose has always been and will always will be to heal. Anyways, what you get with five kunai at once is the ability to _control_ how much energy is poured into the transmutation. You can stun someone _or_ put 'em down for the count."

"That's why you throw them all at once, then?"

"Yup! It's also useful for hand to hand combat. Five kunai are a lot harder to dodge then one."

Al cringed, as if imagining the scene. Or remembering the several occasions it had happened to him. "Yeah, I know that from experience."

Mei giggled. "I told you already that I was sorry! I didn't hit you, anyways."

"I know. I'm grateful."

Though she laughed, there was a pit of dread in her stomach. _What if I_ had _hit him? And hurt him? And…_ She didn't want to finish that thought, for fear of it coming true. "Enough talk," she chastised. "One more demonstration, then you get to try on your own." In a split second two more sets of kunai had appeared from… Wherever the Xingese girl hid them. "Watch closely." She threw one set into the ground while reaching her other arm behind her for more power before sending the second set flying into a different tree. She practically slammed her hands into the circle, creating a jolt of blue electricity from each kunai.

Al stared in awe at the small girl – now kneeling on the ground – in front of him. _Amazing._

"Did you see what I did?" she asked as she stood and brushed herself off.

He laughed. "I saw, but it was so fast I'm not sure it registered in my mind."

She blushed at the praise. "Well, I split the energy through each kunai, meaning the blast radius was wider."

He nodded. "That helps when fighting multiple enemies, then."

"Very effective." She smirked at him. "But don't worry, I don't expect you to be at level by the end of today."

He rolled his eyes. "You're too kind."

"I am. Now take these." She handed him another set of kunai, – _where the heck were they coming from?!_ – though these had dark blue ribbons instead of her usual red. "Aim at the tree behind you, try to hit the red marks, and do one at a time. The most important part of long-distance transmutation is allowing the Dragon's Pulse to carry your energy, so don't hesitate with it. But don't kill the tree, either, please."

He chuckled at her statement. "I'll try."

"That's all I ask."

xxxxxxxxx

It turned out that Alphonse was already proficient with kunai. Or rather, he was able to handle one at a time with skill.

"Have you been training on your own?" Mei asked him suspiciously.

He simply smiled at her and started to throw two at a time.

She pouted behind his back. _Did I just waste my time teaching him stuff he already knew?_ After considering this, she decided that he may have known how to handle one or two kunai, but he hadn't known anything about the strength of the transmutation. _Or he didn't_ act _like he did. Hmm…_

xxxxxxxxx

Within fifteen minutes of starting to throw two kunai at a time, Alphonse had moved on to three. This was when he started to struggle a bit.

"Once you master three," Mei said encouragingly as she gently fixed the way he was holding the kunai, "you're sure to get four and five in no time. And it's not power you lack. You're aim is alright, as well. But you're struggling with the technique. You can't turn your wrist too much, or you'll completely miss your target."

He nodded, preparing his stance a second time.

 _Not too surprising,_ Mei mused silently to herself. _Three is where most beginning alkahetrists start to struggle. I know I did._ She snickered. _I almost impaled my master a few times, if memory serves. She wasn't too –_

A sudden shout of pain caused her to turn around. "Alphonse-sama!" she exclaimed, dashing over to the blonde Amestrian. "Are you alr –?!"

She froze, brown eyes wide.

He had a cut on his hand.

A thin, slice-type cut.

A red liquid was gushing out of it.

 _Blood._

Alphonse Elric was _bleeding._

She wasn't prepared for it. Not in the slightest.

All Mei could do was stare in horror as blood dripped down the down side of his hand, falling to the ground. One of the kunai in his hand had the crimson liquid gleaming along its edge.

It was like she watched it in slow motion.

Every drop took years to fall.

She could practically feel the cut on her own hand. A sharp, smooth slice. Piercing pain. It shot through her fingertips, her hand, through her arm and into her chest.

 _No…_ He wasn't supposed to bleed. He was supposed to be an impenetrable wall. He was supposed to _protect_ her! This – _This is all wrong!_

She didn't even notice the tears sliding down her cheeks.

But Alphonse Elric did.

"Mei," he said worriedly, completely forgetting the cut on his hand as he walked over to the clearly distraught girl. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She blinked slowly, as if she finally noticed her surroundings. "I…"

"Hey," he said gently, trying to put his uncut hand on her shoulder.

She shoved him off. "Don't touch me!"

He blinked in surprise. "… What?"

"Don't touch me," she said, sniffling. "You – You can't!"

"Why? Mei, what –"

"You aren't supposed to get hurt!"

He stopped. "I'm… What?"

"You aren't supposed to get hurt!" she shouted tearfully. "It's not right!"

"What are you talking about?" he said, confused.

"That!" she exclaimed, gesturing towards his hand. "That's not right!"

"Hey," he said, trying to calm her down, "it's just a cut, okay?"

"I don't care! You aren't supposed to bleed!"

"Mei…" He quickly grabbed two handkerchiefs from his back pocket, handing one to the hysterical princess and tying the other around his hand. He then pulled her into a hug. "Please don't cry."

"I'm not crying…" she sniffled into his shirt.

He managed to laugh. "I can't say I believe you."

She just buried her face more into his chest.

"Mei, I want you to listen to me, okay? I'm human. I get hurt. I fall down. I bleed."

"Don't say that…" she whispered. "You're – You're supposed to protect people! To be the wall that guards them!"

"Walls can also trap people," he said. "I'm not too inclined towards the idea of being a wall. But I didn't finish what I was trying to tell you. Yes, I'm going to get hurt, fall down, and bleed, but I will also heal, stand up, and learn from my experiences. I'm human, Mei. And I wouldn't change that fact for the world."

There was a moment where neither of them spoke. They just stayed in each other's arms.

Finally, Mei pulled away, no longer crying, though her cheeks were streaked with tearstains. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I overreacted."

Alphonse gave her a comforting smile. "Nah. I don't think so."

"No, I did." She sighed. "It's just… I've never seen you bleed."

He chuckled. "I guess so. But I have to ask, how was this worse than seeing me 'die'?"

She stared him with empty eyes. "Blood is associated with death. I don't like it. That's why I'm an alkahetrist. To heal people. To stop them from bleeding."

He moved a stand of hair out of her face with his uncut hand. "You know…" He smirked at her. "That's perfect, because you're about to stop my bleeding."

She looked at him in confusion. "What do you –?"

He gestured towards her alkahestry circle on the ground. "Think you can patch me up?"

Her eyes widened. She took a step towards it before freezing. "I can't," she whispered. "I'm sorry, Alphonse-sama. I can't."

"That's not what you said to Colonel Mustang," he challenged, looking her straight in the eyes. "That's not what you said to Scar. Or Dr. Marcoh. Why give up now? Why stop because of _fear_? Why not move past it and become _stronger_ , and use the talent you've been given?"

She stared at him, shocked by his words. And then she giggled. It became a chuckle. It all turned into full-out laughter.

Al stared at the petite girl, confused. "What's so funny?"

Mei finally held back her laughter enough to speak. "Give back by using what I was given. It's equivalent exchange!" Her laughter tumbled out once again, causing her to practically bend over from a lack of oxygen.

Al soon found himself joining in.

"You Elrics," she gasped. "You can't ever get away from alchemy, can you?"

He just continued to laugh.

She sighed, finally breathing normally again. Then she moved to the alkahestry circle. "Come on. I'll stop the bleeding."

His laughter stopped, and he beamed at the black-haired girl. "I knew you would."

She rolled her eyes. "Alphonse-sama, don't make me change my mind."

He walked over to her, a smirk in his eyes.

She rolled her eyes again before activating the circle. But as she slowly watched the wound knit shut, one thought ran through her mind. _I won't let you bleed again. I promise._

xxxxxxxxx

 **Not as awful as I thought it was gonna be. Even so, I don't think it's my best. I like the beginning, but the rest didn't work as well I hoped. I think the end is kind of rushed, even though I was aiming for that just a** ** _little_** **bit. However, if I'm wrong and this is actually a brilliant work, please let me know! XD I'll be back tomorrow with Prompt 6: – my favorite – AU/Crossover.**

 ***quote 'damage' endquote:** apparently this is the correct form of 'quote unquote'


	6. AU-Crossover

**Yes! This is what I've been waiting for! I'll admit, I'm not really sure where I got my idea. I was just like, "Huh. That's awesome!" and I wrote it down. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy Day 6 of AlMei Week 2016, Prompt 6: AU/Crossover. This is an AU.**

 **Note:** I do not curse, and I don't condone cursing. However, for the sake of characterization, some characters appear cursing (*cough* Ed *cough*), although it is censored. For example, h***.

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot.

AU/Crossover

Alphonse Elric stared in pure awe at the sight in front of him. The gorgeous Xingese girl danced across the stage as elegant as a butterfly, her red and pink ribbons twirling around her in harmony with the music.

 _And to think,_ he mused to himself, not taking his eyes off the stage, _at first I didn't want to come…_

xxxxxxxxx

 ***Flashback begins***

 _"Al, are you_ sure _you don't want to come see the ribbon dancers with us?" prosthetics creator Winry Rockbell – soon to be Elric – asked him. "It's going to be a lot of fun, you know! I've heard ribbon dancing is the most beautiful form of dance there is."_

 _Ed snorted. "I doubt Al cares about that, Winry."_

 _She glared at her fiancée. "So?! I was just stating facts, Edward."_

 _He rolled his eyes but turned to face his younger brother and said, "C'mon, Al. Even if you don't care about the dancing and all that, I think you'll have a good time. You can just ogle over the girls and imagine –"_

 _Al had turned a bright red. "B-Brother!" he stuttered. "I-I'd never think –"_

 _Winry interrupted him, glaring angrily at her boyfriend and poking his chest crossly. "Are you saying that you're going to ogle over the girls while I'm there? You have some nerve, Edward Elric!"_

 _Ed rolled his eyes. "What kind of boyfriend do you think I am, you prosthetics nerd?!"_

 _"Are you cheating on me, science freak?!"_

 _"What the h***, Winry?! Like I'd be stupid enough to do_ that _!"_

 _"It's with Rose, isn't it? I never liked her!"_

 _Al sweatdropped. "Winry, Ed isn't cheating on you with any –"_

 _"I haven't spoken to Rose in like two years!" Ed protested, throwing his hands in the air, exasperated. "And the last time we talked was at her_ wedding _!"_

 _"I see how it is," Winry said, crossing her arms over her chest. "A long distance thing? And you're both cheating on your partners!"_

 _"Aargh! Why do you do this to me?!"_

 _"Don't you_ dare _mock me, Edward!"_

 _"I'm not mocking you!"_

 _"I gave you that leg, and I can take it back!"_

 _"Like h***!"_

 _"Don't think I wouldn't!"_

 _"I need this d*** leg to walk, you idiot!"_

 _"To walk to your secret girlfriend's house?!"_

 _"Aargh!" Ed screamed in frustration. "I'm gonna say this one and one fu – freakin' time only, got it?"_

 _Al almost laughed at his brother's sudden change of words._

 _"Winry, I am_ not _cheating on you! Why? Because I love you, d*** it! I asked you to marry me, for Pete's sake! So why the h*** would I be cheating on you?"_

 _Winry opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish. Then she got out her wrench. "Then why the h*** were you leading me to think you were?!" she screeched, throwing the wrench at his head._

 _In the nick of time, Al managed to reach out and catch it before it hit his poor brother. "If you two stop arguing, and promise to not argue for the rest of the night," he said, handing the wrench back to Winry – not necessarily his wisest decision, by any means – before sticking his hands in his pockets, "then I'll come with you guys to the festival thing."_

 _The arguing teens froze. Winry spoke first. "Perfect!" she said, beaming. "Meet us there at seven, okay?"_

 _"It's off of Clermont St.," Ed added, albeit in a grumble._

 _Al laughed. "Got it. See you there!"_

 **xxxxxxxxx**

 _"Winry, why the h*** did you want us to get here for seven when that ribbon show doesn't start still eight?"_

 _Winry frowned at her fiancée's ungracious attitude. "I didn't want us to be late, for one. And now we have time to look around a bit before the dancing starts!"_

 _Ed rolled his eyes. "Oh joy."_

 _"Is that_ sarcasm _I hear, Ed –?!"_

 _"No arguing," Al said lightly from behind the couple._

 _They both shut up after that._

 **xxxxxxxxx**

 _"Finally," Ed muttered under his breath. "The d*** show's starting."_

 _Al bit back a laugh at his brother's comment. His attention was quickly turned to the amphitheater's stage, however, as a man with black hair in a ponytail walked on._

 _"Welcome," he said into a microphone, extending his other arm, "to the nightly ribbon dance performance of the annual Ribbon Festival! My name is Ling and I am the leader of tonight's troupe. We are a traveling dance-slash-performance company from Xing, and tomorrow we're packing up and heading off to Drachma! Since this is our last performance in Amestris, we'll be showing you our two best performers: Lan Fan and Mei Chang!" Two girls walked onto the stage, one considerably shorter than the other._

 _For some reason, Al found himself instantly drawn to her. Sitting on the front row allowed him see to the fierce gleam in her large brown eyes._ Interesting, _he thought to himself._

 _"Everyone, please, give them a hand," Ling said to the audience. He waited until the applause had concluded before moving on. "Lan Fan will be going first, performing along to_ _ **Stars Align***_ _."_

 _Al felt his heart sink as the petite girl walked off stage. He'd been looking forward to her performance, but now he had to wait through another one. He sighed, preparing to get comfortable. This was going to take a while._

 **xxxxxxxxx**

 _Al groaned quietly as he discreetly checked his watch, desperately hoping the Lan Fan girl's performance was getting closer to its end. It wasn't that she wasn't_ good _– she was amazing, if he was being honest – but her dance was very powerful. It reminded him of a fighting routine. Definitely an interesting idea, but it wasn't what he was looking for. He blushed. There was also the small matter of him wanting to see the other girl perform._

 _Ed, however, was completely engrossed in Lan Fan's dance._

 _Al chuckled. His brother had always liked to fight, so this was a good experience for him. To see and understand the importance of portrayal could affect a view of something. Then Al realized that the music had stopped, and that loud applause was echoing in the amphitheater. She'd finished. He hastily started to clap, hoping his lack of attention hadn't been obvious. He stopped as the man with a ponytail – Ling, had it been? – walked back onto the stage and put one of his arms around the now blushing dancer._

 _"Everyone, please, give Lan Fan another round of applause!" He nodded as the applause skyrocketed. When it died down, he released the girl and gently nudged her towards offstage. Then he continued. "The second and final performance of the night is going to be none other than Mei Chang, dancing along to_ _ **Elements***_ _! Everyone, give her a hand!"_

 _Al heard nothing after that. All of his thoughts were focused on the girl that had just walked onstage. Her long, braided, jet black hair. Her porcelain skin. Her large brown eyes. The way her knee-length red and gold kimono fell on her thin body. The way she walked so delicately in her black slippers._

 _She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen._

 _And then she completely and utterly blew his mind by doing one thing._

 _She began to dance._

 ***Flashback ends***

xxxxxxxxx

And so there he was. Completely and utterly transfixed on her.

The way she practically floated around the stage.

The way her ribbons whirled in time with the melody of the music.

He couldn't stop the amazed look from remaining on his face. She was perfect. Every move was flawlessly choreographed before flowing effortlessly into the next one. It was truly jaw-dropping. He glanced around for just a moment to see his brother and his brother's girlfriend's reactions. Their gaping faces told him that they were just as stunned as he was. He returned his gaze to the stage, becoming absorbed in the performance once more.

And then he saw it.

She was telling a story with her dance.

He leaned in closer, as if that would help him understand it. Every move she made – every turn, jump, flick of the ribbon – _meant_ something. There was a message behind her dance. She was trying to convey something. He glanced around the audience, but everyone else was still simply enraptured by the grace of it all. He stared determinedly at her unexpressive face. _I'll figure it out._

As he watched, everything became clearer to him, slowly but surely. The story she was telling was about a princess, and everything that happened to her.

A princess, all alone, waiting for a prince that would never come.

A princess, choosing to give up on 'happily-ever-after'.

A princess, deciding to take matters into her own hands.

A princess, living her life her own way, however she wanted to.

Al was completely captivated by her tale, wondering if it was true, and if _she_ was the princess. He was only able to tear himself away when the music stopped and her dance ended. As the applause started, he joined in immediately, certain he was clapping loudest of all. Cheering began, too, and he added his own cheers as loud as he possibly could. He knew his voice alone would be drowned out by the dozens of others, but he didn't care. All that mattered was that he had seen her story. He just didn't know how to tell her that yet.

Ling walked back onto the stage, clapping along with the crowd. "That was Mei Chang!" The applause got even louder, increasing by what felt like a hundredfold.

But Al was no longer paying attention to that. His eyes were on her. _Mei._ He couldn't let himself forget it.

Ling gestured to offstage, signaling a blushing Lan Fan to come back on. "I think these two ladies did amazingly, don't you agree?" he said, pulling the two girls into a hug.

The audience cheered their agreement.

Ling chuckled. "I'm glad it was an enjoyable show. I'm afraid that's the end of our performances now, but before we go, can we have one final round of applause for Lan Fan and Mei Chang?"

 _Before we go._

Al's eyes widened. He remembered the black-haired man's words from earlier.

 _Tomorrow we're packing up and heading off to Drachma._

He got a sinking feeling in his stomach. She was going to leave. She was going to leave he would either never see her again or have to wait an entire year for the festival to come back around. He had to tell her. He had to let her – _Mei,_ he said silently – know that he'd seen her story. That he knew about the princess.

He _had_ to know if it was true.

The moment the crowd started to disperse, he practically flew out of his seat. _Mei,_ he chanted to himself. _Mei. Mei, Mei, Mei._

"Oi!" Ed exclaimed. "Al! Where are you going?"

Al ignored him.

"Hey! You can't just leave me with the demon – I mean Winry!"

Winry's face reddened from anger. " _What_ did you just call me, Edward?!"

"Al! Help!"

"Don't make me get out my wrench!"

Al sighed and stopped, turning around but not moving towards them. "Don't worry," he said, giving them a small smile. "I'll be right back! There's something I've got to do."

"What the h*** do you have to do that can't wait until tomorrow?" Ed half-shouted, frustrated.

Al just laughed turned away from the couple and kept walking.

"What a jerk," Ed grumbled, crossing his arms.

Winry just studied that back of the retreated blonde. Then she smirked. "Hmm… It looks like Al's got a bit of a crush!"

Ed gaped. " _WHAT?!_ "

She nodded, giggling.

"How the h*** do you know that?!"

"Isn't it obvious? It must be on one of the dancers."

"When I told him it was okay for him to ogle the dancers earlier, I didn't expect him to take it _seriously_!"

Winry rolled her eyes. "You're such an idiot, Ed."

"Oi!"

"It's clearly something a lot deeper than being attracted by the girl's looks. I wonder…" She trailed off.

"Wonder what?" Ed asked his girlfriend curiously.

"It's probably just a silly hunch," she said, biting her lip, "but I wonder if Al saw something that we missed."

"That's not possible," Ed scoffed. "I watched both performances, all the way through!"

Winry shook her head. "Not like that, Ed."

"Then what do you mean?!"

She just rolled her eyes. "You always have been the less perceptive Elric, haven't you?"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?! D*** it, Winry! Can't you just say something straight for once?!"

She sighed. "And that's exactly what I meant."

xxxxxxxxx

Al arrived at the dancer's tent that was beside the stage within a minute of abandoning his brother and Winry. He _did_ feel a _little_ bit bad about that, but not enough to turn around and apologize and explain himself.

He had to talk to Mei.

He stopped about seven feet away from the tent. _Now what?_ he asked himself, biting his lip anxiously. He'd gotten to where he wanted to go, but he'd reached a slight roadblock. He took a deep breath and prepared to just walk into the tent when someone stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?" they said.

Al turned around to see a somewhat short old man with spiky gray hair and a mustache. He had a white headband tied around his head, and for someone who appeared to be at least sixty, he looked to be in great shape. "Oh!" Al exclaimed. "I, uh, um –"

The old man narrowed his eyes at the blonde Amestrian. "Trying to court one of our dancers, are you?"

Al's face turned a brilliant shade of red. "I – What?!" he sputtered, embarrassed. "No, no!"

"Then what're you here for?"

"I-I wanted to know if I could talk to Mei… Chang, I think."

"So you _are_ trying to court her."

"I-I'm not! I have a question about her dance!"

A head suddenly popped out of the tent. It was Ling. "Fu, what's all the commotion?" he grumbled. "We're trying to pack –" He noticed Alphonse standing there. "Um… Who are you?" Then he glared at him. "Wait a minute… You aren't here for Lan Fan, are you? Back off right now if you are. Lan Fan is _mine._ "

Al sweatdropped. This was practically a completely different man from the one onstage. "Well, actually –"

"He wants to talk to Mei," the old man – _Fu?_ – said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Something about her dance. But I don't believe him."

Ling studied the tall blonde. Finally, he said, "What do you want to ask her?"

Al blushed. "I, um… I wanted to ask her about the meaning behind her dance."

"That's it?"

"I mean… I wanted to know about the story in it. If it's true."

Ling's eyes widened at his statement. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that they opened. "So you saw it?"

"Saw what?"

"Her story."

"Oh! Uh, I mean, I guess I did."

Ling nodded towards the old man. "He's good, Fu. Mei will want to talk to him." He stepped aside, allowing Al access into the tent. "Come in."

"I-I can't do that!" Al stammered, getting flustered at the idea of walking in on a group of strangers. "That's invading everyone's privacy."

Ling grinned before turning to Fu. "I think he's passed. What about you?"

Fu stared at the blonde before a smile crept onto his face. "Heh. He did."

Al simply looked at the two Xingese men in confusion. _Pass? What are they talking about?_

"I'll get Mei for you," Ling said before he ducked back into the tent, Fu behind him. "Just give me one second."

Al awkwardly fiddled with the leather cord bracelet he had on his wrist – a gift he'd made for his and Ed's mother before she died – as he waited for Ling to reappear with Mei. He realized hadn't taken off the bracelet except to shower and to clean it since the day she'd died. He jumped, startled, upon hearing shouting from inside the tent.

"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEI! SOMEONE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!"

"Just a minute, Ling," a feminine voice replied crossly. "I'm trying to get Xiao Mei out of the carrier that _you_ forced her into."

"Only so she wouldn't run away!"

"But you still locked her up when it was unnecessary."

"Whatever. Be glad I didn't kill her or something."

"How dare you even _consider_ such a thing?!"

Al decided to ignore the rest of the conversation.

xxxxxxxxx

Finally, Ling returned. "Here's Mei!" he said cheerfully, moving out of the entrance to give her enough room to pass him. "This guy wants to talk to you about your dance. No more than five minutes! Understand?"

The pretty girl that had exited the tent sighed and nodded. "Yes, Ling."

He then turned to face Al. "As for you… Don't hurt my baby sister, okay?"

Al gulped at the deadly expression on the man's face. "Um… Yes sir?" he squeaked.

Ling's appearance went from 'ready to kill' to 'sunshine and rainbows' in less than a second. "Perfect! I'm glad we understand each other." He went back inside the tent, leaving the two teens alone.

"So…" Al said awkwardly. He mentally cursed himself for not thinking of what he was _actually_ going to say to her ahead of time.

The girl frowned. "What's your name?"

"Oh! Alphonse. Alphonse Elric."

"Mei Chang." She stuck out a slim hand for him to shake.

He quickly complied, albeit awkwardly.

"Ling told me that you wanted to talk about my dance," she said a moment later. "What about?"

He blinked in surprise. "Er, well…"

She giggled at his awkwardness. "Maybe I'm being a little too blunt here. My bad. Let me try again." She smiled at him. "Did you enjoy the show?"

He returned her smile. "Yes, I did. It was amazing. I liked how both you and Lan Fan had similar soundtracks, but your dances were completely different. That made it really inter –" He suddenly stopped. "Um… You have a panda on your shoulder."

Mei looked at him in confusion. "Huh? What do you – oh?!" She facepalmed. "You meant right now." She laughed. "I do. Her name is Xiao Mei" She gently took the tiny panda off her shoulder. "Want to hold her?"

Al looked uneasily at the little panda, which was glaring at him with bared teeth. "Do I?"

"Of course! She's very friendly." She handed the panda to Al, not noticing the nervous look in his eyes.

The moment the panda had been entirely in his hands, it whipped its head around and tried to sink its teeth in Alphonse's wrist, only to bite down on a leather cord instead of flesh. _I have never been so happy to have this bracelet,_ he thought, relieved.

Mei quickly took her stunned panda back. "Bad Xiao Mei!" she said, pouting and tapping the creature on the nose. "How many times have I told you not to bite people?!"

Al half-expected the panda to answer.

Mei just sighed and put the panda back on her shoulder, where it went and buried itself in her hair. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "She sometimes gets like that."

He laughed. "It's fine." _I am never holding any sort of animal again._ "As I was saying, it was interesting how the musics were similar to each other, but the dances were entirely different." He got serious. "But that's not what I wanted to tell you."

Mei could sense the mood change. "O-Okay," she stuttered. "W-What did you want to say?"

He ran a hand through his blonde hair. "How do I phrase this…?" he muttered to himself. "I wanted to tell you – I wanted to say – I could – aargh!" He threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "I just can't speak today!"

Despite how intense the tone of the conversation had gotten, Mei was unable to stop herself from laughing as he shattered it completely with one sentence.

He blushed in embarrassment as she laughed at him. "S-Sorry."

"N-No!" she said amidst her giggles. "It's fine! I just – I just wasn't expecting that!"

He laughed rather awkwardly with her. "Yeah, I probably should have thought the statement through a bit more than I did." He took a deep breath. "Okay… First… I wanted to tell you that I could see your story."

Her laughter stopped abruptly. "You… What?"

"The story in your dance," he hastily explained. "I could see it."

"My… Story," she breathed.

He nodded. "The one about the girl – a princess – and her life story, I guess. I could see it all in your dance. Every movement was part of it." He stared at her questioningly. "Right?"

"You could see it…" she said slowly. "You saw it…" She suddenly threw her arms around the blonde. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

His cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson at her unexpected hug. "Y-You're welcome?"

She pulled away quickly, her cheeks also scarlet. "It's just… No one's ever seen it before." She suddenly eyed him suspiciously. "Wait… You aren't lying to me, are you?"

Al hastily shook his head. "I'm not! I really did see it. I wanted to ask you if it's true. If the princess is real and stuff."

Mei smiled softly at him. "I think you're smart enough to have realized that the princess is me, Alphonse-sama."

He blushed at the nickname. "Yeah… But the rest of the story?"

"It's all true except for one part."

"Really?" he said curiously. "What?"

"The princess… Didn't _actually_ give up on happily-ever-after. She just chose to _make_ her own happily-ever-after. To _find_ her prince instead of waiting for him."

He smiled. "I'm sure she'll succeed."

She blushed. "I think she already has…" Slowly, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed the Amestrian on his cheek.

Al was sure all of the blood in his body had rushed to his face then and there.

Mei fell back on the flat of her feet, not meeting his eyes.

"So…" he finally said, his voice higher than he would have liked, "do you think I'm your prince?"

Her eyes widened. "O-Only if you want to be!" she stammered. "I just – you're the only person who's seen the story in my dance before! So, I kind of – I thought – you don't have to!"

He gave her a tiny, nervous smile. "I mean… I wouldn't mind all that much…"

"Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Y-You're really funny, and you're really pretty, too, so…"

She beamed at him. "Thank you, Alphonse-sama! You're quite good-looking, yourself."

"Do – Do you want to go get dinner or something?" he asked, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

Mei nodded happily. "I'd love to!"

xxxxxxxxx

 **I have to say, I really like the way this came out. Some stuff is still left unexplained, and that's because this will probably be receiving a part two in the future!**

 **Guys… AlMei Week 2016 is almost over. Now I'm sad. :'( But we still have one day left! Tomorrow is the final day. I hope you return for Prompt 7: Celebrations.**

 ***Stars Align – www** dot **youtube** dot **com/watch?v=55_bV4ORRFM**

 ***Elements – www** dot **youtube** dot **com/watch?v=sf6LD2B_kDQ**

 **I highly recommend both songs/instrumentals. They're both performed and written by Lindsey Stirling.**


	7. Celebrations

**This is it, my friends. The final day of AlMei Week 2016. It's a sad, sad day, don't you think? Rest assured, I'll be back next year, and maybe even before then. ;P Here is the final prompt of AlMei Week 2016 – Prompt 7: Celebrations.**

 **Disclaimer:** I have not yet managed to get my hands on the rights to Fullmetal Alchemist, so, no, I don't own FMA.

Celebrations

Mei Chang had been having a _horrible_ day.

And no, that was _not_ an exaggeration.

Mei was no stranger to _bad_ days. You know, those days when you wake up and you aren't in a good mood, or your hair won't do what you ask, or you set the kitchen on fire trying to make breakfast? Those are _bad_ days.

 _Horrible_ days were a completely different thing in and of themselves. _Those_ were the days when absolutely _nothing_ was going your way, and your main thought was, "This day couldn't get any worse…"

That was the type of day Mei Chang was having.

She laughed bitterly as she remembered a book she'd read as a kid. _Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day._

Well, now it was "Mei Chang and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day".

It couldn't get any _better_ than that, could it?

xxxxxxxxx

It had started with a headache. Not just _any_ headache, but the Xingese girl's worst headache in years, to be precise. Calling it a migraine was an understatement. It refused to let her be, relentlessly creating a dull pounding in her head.

Despite this, she'd decided to run errands.

Why?

Because there was no way that Mei Chang was going to sit and mope around while her boyfriend of six months was going to work hard in the Emperor's palace. _Especially_ since he had to talk to Ling the entire time. Admittedly, the meeting was supposedly about building railroads connecting Xing and Amestris, but with Ling… Yeah, that wouldn't be the topic for very long, unless Lan Fan was going to be particularly controlling with him. Mei hadn't wanted to waste the day away while everyone else was giving it their all.

And so she had left her house, list of things that had to be completed before the day was over in hand. It was a relatively short list – it only had three tasks on it – but they weren't errands that could be completed in haste, unfortunately for her. But she was determined to stick it out and do it all. She was Mei Chang, after all. The most stubborn and determined Xingese princess out there.

xxxxxxxxx

 **Number One: Take Xiao Mei to the doctor.**

That was _not_ supposed to be complicated. It was supposed to be a simple, three-step process.

 _Step 1. Physically bring Xiao Mei to the doctor._

 _Step 2. Sign the panda in and drop her off._

 _Step 3. Leave to complete the other two tasks on the list._

But the world couldn't let it be so simple.

Now, Mei took _excellent_ care of her small panda friend – probably better care than she did of her human friends – but it was required that she take Xiao Mei to the vet every so often. Once a year, to be precise. She'd never had any trouble keeping up with her panda's appointments before, but going to Amestris those three and a half years ago had completely thrown off her schedule with the visits to the vet. Not to mention Alphonse's arrival had only caused more roadblocks.

Yes, she cared dearly for the blonde Amestrian, but teaching him alkahestry while he also had to act as Amestris' ambassador could be quite the hassle – for her schedule, that was. It always annoyed her when he had to just up and leave because Ling summoned him. That was the only time she felt like slapping Ling across the face.

 _That's a lie._ She often felt Ling needed to be slapped across the face.

Nevertheless, Mei was determined to take her small friend to the vet, pounding headache or no.

So she did.

Her day got worse the moment she walked into the veterinarian's waiting room.

As she'd stepped into the threshold, someone's dog _tackled_ her onto the ground, sniffing her all over and licking her face. This in itself was not the _worst_ thing – though it _was_ completely disgusting and invasive of her privacy. It was when the dog went and _stole_ one of her shoes and took off running with it that caused Mei to snap.

A quick long distance alkahestry transmutation solved _that_ little problem.

 _It was only a_ small _shock,_ Mei told herself. _Just because there was smoke coming off his fur afterwards doesn't mean he'll have any severe internal injuries._ She sighed. She _may_ have gone just a _bit_ overboard…

The dog had suffered a nice electric shock – nice seeing as she hadn't killed him – and had released her shoe immediately after that. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say it had fallen from his unmoving jaws.

After she had reassured many people that the dog would be just fine – its owner had threatened to sue her until she explained she could heal the dog – and all she had to do was perform a healing transmutation, the already mentally exhausted Xingese princess finally made her way over to the check-in desk to drop her panda off.

Xiao Mei was _not_ having it.

The tiny panda had at first been simply annoyed, mostly struggling to get out of her owner's grasp and making pitiful squeaks to convince the Xingese girl to take her home. But when _that_ hadn't worked…

She'd gone to so far as to _bite_ Mei.

Immediately after sinking her teeth into the petite girl's hand, the panda regretted it. Not only did she love her owner-slash-best friend, but she had also bitten Mei before, and had been scarred ever since…

xxxxxxxxx

 ***Flashback begins***

 _"Xiao Mei, you need to take your medicine!" Mei scolded. "I know it's not nice, but it'll make you feel better!"_

 _The panda rolled her eyes, snorting, clearly skeptical._

 _"C'mon," the petite girl practically begged. "It's only for this week!"_

 _The panda growled._

 _"Xiao Mei…"_

 _The panda squeaked indignantly before sinking her teeth into the girl's tiny hand._

 _Mei didn't scream, merely hissing through her teeth at the pain._

 _The panda let go, satisfied and certain she wouldn't have to take the disgusting medicine now._

 _The black-haired girl stared at the teeth marks in her hand before slowly wiping the blood onto her dress. In a split second, she'd pulled out a set of kunai and were holding them to her panda. "Xiao Mei…" she said in a threatening tone. "You are going to take your medicine, or so help me I will_ shave _you, understand?"_

 _The panda blanched, nodding hastily before having her mouth opened and a nasty chewable placed into it._

 _"Now, was that so hard?" Mei said with a merciless smile on her lips._

 _The panda gulped._

 ***Flashback ends***

xxxxxxxxx

Xiao Mei quickly released her owner, silently praying she would have mercy on her.

No such luck.

Mei stared coldly at the little panda that was now cowering in her arms before giving her a tight smile. "Xiao Mei… Didn't we talk about not biting me?"

The panda squeaked, and if to say, "Yes…"

"That's what I thought. Do you remember what the punishment was if you were ever to bite me again?"

The miniature panda frantically squealed, trying to get away from the demon that had taken over the normally sweet Mei.

"I don't know where you think you're going, Xiao Mei…"

The person at the desk coughed. "Excuse me, ma'am, but we can take Xiao Mei now."

Mei blinked. She'd forgotten the real reason she'd been there. "Of course!" she said, plastering a fake smile on her face. "Here she is." She placed the quivering panda on the desk before turning around and leaving as quickly as possible before she lost her temper again.

As Xiao Mei was placed into a carrier, she silently thanked whatever great being had just saved her from inevitable punishment from her sadist of an owner.

xxxxxxxxx

 **Number Two: Drop Off and Check Out Books from the Library**

Originally she had just planned to drop off books, but as she was walking there, she realized she had almost finished teaching Alphonse the concepts of alkahestry – which was the reason she was going to the library; to return most of the books on alkahestry theory that she'd covered with him already. _I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check out some books on more complex alkahestry concepts and transmutations,_ she mused. So the trip to 'drop off' became the trip to 'drop off and pick up'.

But the poor girl's day could only get worse.

The moment she'd stepped into the library, the bag carrying all fifteen of the hardback books on alkahestry theories _broke,_ causing all of the books to fall and crush her toes. She bit back a yelp of pain before giving everyone in the quiet library an awkward smile as she bent down to pick up the books. Thankfully, the librarian had seen what happened, so not only did she not reprimand Mei for making too much noise, but she also helped the Xingese princess pick up the books and take them to her desk.

"Thank you," Mei said gratefully to the woman, who simply chucked and brushed it off.

"It's fine," she said, smiling. "The fact that your bag broke because you had so many books is almost a _good_ thing for the library. It shows you're dedicated."

Mei laughed. "That's kind. But I'm afraid my toes don't feel the same."

The librarian chuckled. "Luckily for us, your toes aren't what check out books."

After setting them all on the kind librarian's desk to be checked in, Mei began her search for books on the more complex concepts of alkahestry. She knew it would be difficult, especially because so few books on alkahestry's more complicated concepts existed. Not to mention her head was still throbbing with the same stupid headache.

It took over an hour, but she was finally able to find a few books. Three, specifically. From what she'd read of them – she always made sure to read a few chapters before checking out a book to ensure it had what she wanted – they seemed to cover essentially everything she wanted to teach to Alphonse. For the time being, anyway. They went in-depth in a few areas where she didn't feel like it was quite necessary, as well as brushing over topics that were quite important, but those small issues were nothing her mind couldn't fix. She almost wished she could _buy_ the books, they impressed her so much.

As she made her way back to the librarian's desk – this time to check _out_ books – something hard crashed onto her head. _Probably a book,_ she thought dazedly as she feel to her knees, her vision completely hazy and blurred. _Everything almost looks a bit red…_

Despite her semi-consciousness, Mei was vaguely able to register the five people surrounding her, looking at her worriedly.

"The poor girl!"

"Is she okay?"

"You need to be more careful when you're re-shelving books, Màikèfēng!"

"I didn't mean to drop it!"

"We know that, but you've still got to be careful!"

"I was trying to be, I swear! It just slipped!"

Someone groaned. "And it was an encyclopedia…"

""No!" someone else – presumably Màikèfēng wailed. "I've killed her!"

"You haven't killed her, you idiot."

"She going to have a heck of a bruise, though."

"But she's alive?"

"Yes. You dropped a thin volume on her head – not a thick one, thank goodness – and it wasn't from a huge height."

Mei tried to sit up, a bit confused as to what was going on. "What… Happened?"

Everyone gasped.

"You're awake!"

"You're alive!"

"Of course she's alive! We discussed that already!"

"I'm _so_ sorry for being worried!"

Mei cringed and reached to cover her eyes. "Sorry, but… You're being pretty loud."

Immediately, everyone closed their mouths and moved slightly away from the poor girl.

"Are you okay?" a feminine voice asked – _The librarian._

Mei gave her a slightly forced smile. "I'm fine. Just a bit –" She winced as a jolt of pain shot through her head. "Beaten up."

The librarian frowned. "You aren't fine! Just look at this knot on your head."

The Xingese princess slowly touched her forehead, flinching at the pain. But sure enough, there was a sizable knot forming on her forehead. "This?" She laughed. "It's nothing. I can fix it up right away."

The librarian frowned. "How?"

Mei smiled at her. "A bit of alkahestry. But don't worry, I won't do it in the library. I'll check out my books and be on my way." She looked around for her books, but panicked slightly when she couldn't find them. "Um… I know you probably think I should be more worried about myself, but… Where are the three books I had on me before I was, er, well, hit on the head?"

"Right here."

Mei turned to see a man perhaps in his fifties with her books in his arms.

"I felt horrible about dropping about that book on you, so I did the only thing I could do, considering the circumstances… I bought the books for you."

Her jaw dropped. "B-Bought them?!" She completely ignored the sharp pains in her head as she leapt to her feet. "B-But that's not – This is a library – You can't just – For me?!"

He chuckled. "Well, by _bought_ them I mean I put 40,172 yen on Ms. Sònggē's desk so she can buy new copies."

Mei's eyes were practically bugging out of her head. "40,172 yen?!" she sputtered. "N-No! I can't allow it!"

He shook his head. "It's a lot cheaper than paying for some sort of surgery because you were hurt permanently because of my carelessness."

"But that _didn't_ happen! You don't need to –"

The librarian laughed. "Just let him. He's too stubborn to be convinced otherwise."

Mei bit her lip, unsure of whether to accept the books or refuse them. Then she sighed. "Fine. But I _will_ make it up to you."

"I look forward to it."

She took her books from him and left, only to stumble over her own feet a mere thirty meters away from the door of the library, successfully scraping her knees and bashing her head against the sidewalk. She groaned as she picked herself up from the ground. _If this keeps up, I'm bound to actually damage myself._ Then her stomach growled. She looked at her wrist to check her watch, only to discover it wasn't there. She cursed before glancing at the sun, using the old way of looking at its position in the sky to tell time.

 _3:30?!_

No wonder she was so hungry. _I should probably get a sandwich or something…_

xxxxxxxxx

 **Number Three: Buy Groceries**

After Mei had gotten her sandwich, she made her way to the market. Grocery shopping was her last task of the day, which made her more than happy. _I can go home… And relax…_ She sighed happily to herself at the thought of taking a long, hot shower. She glanced at her list after throwing away the last of her sandwich. _Thank Truth it's a short list._ She was relieved to see the only items that needed purchasing were bread and a few different vegetables.

But a short list did not determine a short trip.

After all, the world couldn't afford to let the rest of her day pass by in peace, right?

The first loaf of bread she'd purchased had been _perfect._ It had been warm and sliced up to perfection. She couldn't wait to take it to her house and create some sort of dish with it. There was just _one_ little problem…

The vendor had dropped it on the ground.

"Oops," he said flatly. "My bad."

"Are you _kidding_ me…?" she muttered angrily under her breath. She plastered a falsely cheerful smile on her face. "It's okay. Could I get another?"

The vendor nodded, rolling his eyes. "Sure. But that'll be 503 more yen."

"503 _more_ yen?" she said in disbelief.

He nodded.

"That doesn't make sense," she protested. "I paid for a loaf already!"

"But you dropped it."

"Actually, _you_ dropped it."

"I can drop 100 yen from the price," he said, bored, "but that's it."

Mei was seething with rage at this point. "And _why_ do I have to pay again?"

"Because you dropped your other loaf."

She snapped.

The vendor let out a shrill scream as five kunai flew past his head and embedded themselves in the wall behind him.

"Look," she said in a low voice, leaning in close to him. "I have been having the _worst_ day possible for normal circumstances. I am not normally this cruel – and I hate that I'm acting this way – but I will not hesitate to electrocute you with my alkahestry. Unless, of course, you decide to give me a another loaf of bread for _free_ – although technically speaking it's paid for – which is the only way you will get out of this _without_ smoke coming off of your clothes."

Mei wasn't sure whether it was the kunai _behind_ him, the kunai she had uncomfortably close to his neck, or her threatening words that convinced the vendor to give her another loaf, but whatever the reason, he had begged her to not harm him and that he had just been kidding – _Yeah right,_ she scoffed – and that he'd give her another loaf immediately if she wouldn't hurt him.

She instantly taken her kunai away from his throat and removed the ones from the wall.

"H-Here you go," he stammered in fear, hands shaking as he handed her another loaf.

She carefully took it from him, being careful not to drop it as she placed it in a bag. "Have a good day," she said curtly before walking away.

"Y-You too," the vendor stammered.

xxxxxxxxx

The buying of the vegetables had been relatively uneventful.

 _Relatively._

Mei had had to deal with an annoying stranger that kept trying to ask her out. She had politely refused him at first, but soon realized he'd need a bit more convincing. All it had taken was one kunai, and he'd apologized before quickly backing away from her.

Shopping had been easy after that.

And so, bag of bread and vegetables in hand, Mei was on her way home. She felt half-dead from the day's events, however, and consequently was not paying any attention to the events going on around her and she trudged back to her house where – _hopefully_ – her boyfriend was waiting for her. But if her luck continued, she was sure she'd be all alone.

She'd been so tired that she hadn't noticed when the sole of her shoe fell off. She'd paid almost no attention when a little boy running past her splashed her dress with muddy water.

In fact, she most likely wouldn't have noticed the person following her if they hadn't fired a shot at her and missed.

Instantly, she spun on her heel and drew a transmutation circle in the ground, throwing her kunai into the points of the star before throwing a different set at the creep following her. She was about to transmute when they fired again, causing her to have to roll to the side to dodge.

"Stop being so annoying, d*** it!" they grunted.

"Why are you shooting at me?!" she demanded, doing a backflip to dodge another round of bullets and consequently landing back in her transmutation circle. She slammed her palms into the ground, electrocuting her pursuer.

They groaned and collapsed to the ground.

"Tell me right now!" she demanded, marching over to him. She knocked the gun away from his hand and held a kunai to his throat. _How many times have I had to threaten a person with my kunai today?_ she thought tiredly.

"The Zhang Clan hired me," they retorted. "Said it'd be an easy assassination – they didn't mention you can do alkahestry and all that s***!"

"Of course," she muttered. "That's because they don't _know_." She glared icily at him. "And you aren't going to say _anything_ to them."

They laughed. "Oh, and I should listen to you because?"

"The obvious reason is that your life is in my hands. But the _other_ thing is that Emperor Ling and I are extremely close. If he found out his favorite little sister was almost killed, I think he'd definitely have something to say about that."

"Y-You're lying."

"Lying using the Emperor's name is treason."

They gulped. "F-Fine. I'll let you be."

"And?"

"And I won't mention anything about your alkahestry."

She nodded, though inside she wondered if it was even necessary. Ever since Alphonse had come to Xing, more people were talking about him and how he was learning alkahestry from someone. Of course, it wasn't common knowledge yet that she was his instructor, but it was bound to spread eventually. She tucked away her kunai, as well as his gun. _No need to leave this for him to get ahold of again._

xxxxxxxxx

Mei sighed in relief. Finally, she was home. She was bruised, dirty, and still had the worst headache in history, but she was home.

She had never felt happier in her life to see her house. Especially since she'd gotten rid of that gun. She shuddered at the thought of it. She hated guns. It was only natural, after all, for an alkahetrist to hate weapons that caused death.

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as she stepped into the threshold of her home. "I'm back," the girl called out tiredly. She didn't really expect an answer, but…

And there wasn't one.

She sighed before kicking off her shoes and making her way to her bedroom. She shut the door behind her, hastily taking off her somewhat-ruined dress and grabbing a pair of her sparring clothes, changing into that. She wasn't planning to spar, – she had no energy for that – but it was certainly one of her most comfortable outfits. She walked down the hall towards the kitchen, only to freeze upon having a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist.

"Hey," Alphonse murmured in her ear before nuzzling his face in her hair.

"Hey…"

He frowned at her depressed tone. "Something wrong?"

She laughed bitterly. "You could say that."

"What happened?" he asked her worriedly.

"Alphonse-sama…" She rubbed frustrated tears out of her eyes. "This day could not have gone any worse than it did."

He lightly kissed the top of her head. "That happens, unfortunately. Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Yes, but…"

"But what?"

"You sound like a mother talking to her hormonal teenage daughter," the Xingese princess snickered.

Al turned a bright red but tried to laugh it off. "That's oddly specific, you know."

She snorted. "Well, I've had experience."

xxxxxxxxx

Al whistled slowly after Mei finished telling him the events of her day. "You've certainly been put to the test, haven't you?"

She sighed. "Don't I know it?" She blushed as one of his hands lightly touched the bruise on her forehead while the other gently rubbed her knee.

"I hate it."

She blinked in surprise at his sudden statement. "What?"

"I hate that I wasn't there."

Her blush darkened at his statement. "Th-That's not your fault, Alphonse-sama!"

He sighed. "I know. But still…" He abruptly pulled the small girl into his lap. "You could have died."

She tried to cheer him up. "Do you really have so little faith in me?" she teased.

He didn't answer, instead choosing to hug her tighter.

She couldn't take it. "You can't act like this!"

"What?"

"You can't get all depressed after I've had such a bad day! You're supposed to cheer me up! That's what a boyfriend does! So give me a reason to think that this day wasn't so bad."

He stared at her, surprised. "You want me to give you a reason to celebrate today?"

"Er… Yes?"

He chuckled. "Well, I guess I can't just leave you hanging. I'll think of something."

A light blush coated her cheeks, and she suddenly felt incredibly silly. "I-I mean, you don't have to! Today isn't really a special day, so I don't know if you'll be able to –"

He placed a finger on her lips, silencing her. "There's always a reason to celebrate," he murmured in her ear.

xxxxxxxxx

A few minutes later, Al snapped his fingers. "Got it!"

Mei almost gaped. "You thought of something?!"

He laughed at her shock. "Do you really have so little faith in me?" he said lightly, using her words from earlier.

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, I get it. What did you think of?"

"461."

"Huh?" Mei had no idea what to make of that.

"461," he repeated.

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "I heard _that,_ Alphonse-sama. But what do you mean?"

"461 days." He smiled softly at her confused expression. "It's been 461 days since you started teaching me alkahestry."

Mei's eyes widened. She looked away from the blonde Amestrian, blushing furiously. "Tha-That's not a real reason to celebrate!"

Al shrugged, still smiling. "I guess you could think like that. But for me, it's 461 days that I've been able to learn alkahestry from the most talented alkahetrist ever. It's 461 days that I've been able to experience every aspect of Xingese culture from its most beautiful princess." He whispered his next words directly into her ear. "And it's 461 days that I've been able to fall in love with you."

If it was possible, her cheeks turned an even darker shade of red at his last statement.

"Is it now a reason for you to celebrate?" He smirked at the embarrassed princess.

She sighed, but there was a tiny smile on her lips. "I suppose so. But I realized something else. Alphonse-sama…"

"What?"

"Every day I spend with you is a reason to celebrate."

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 **I don't think I've ever written something so cutesy before! *pats self on back* I did pretty well, I think. However…**

 **AlMei Week is now over! *wipes away tear* Ah, well. It was fun while it lasted. But this isn't necessarily the end of my AlMei oneshots. If I get more ideas, they'll be here! I just don't know** ** _when._** **I hope you all enjoyed my take on AlMei Week 2016's prompts!**


	8. Security-Ulterior Motives

**Greetings! I'm back for AlMei Week 2017! Instead of writing individual oneshots per prompt, I decided to make it seven chapters with each chapter at least somewhat aligning with the topic for the day. It's a Modern!AU where Mei is the chief medical examiner and Alphonse a police officer. I guess we'll see how this turns out, won't we? This chapter fits the prompt 'Security' best.**

 **Disclaimer:** I hold no ownership over Fullmetal Alchemist.

xXxXxXx

"Do you notice anything unusual about her organs?"

"Nothing. Excluding the damage caused by the killer, of course. Up until her death she seemed to be in perfect health."

Mei Chang – chief medical examiner of Xing – had recently had her hands full. Normally her city was one of the quieter ones when it came to homicides, but a serial murderer had suddenly struck and did not seem inclined to leave. Needless to say, the bodies of dead men and women were showing up at her office almost by the day for her to autopsy. The females were strangled and then stabbed six times, and the men died from a gunshot before being stabbed in the same manner. In fact, it was the six stab wounds that linked the murders of the men and women to one person. "Is there anything unusual about the wounds?"

"Nah. Just the usual we've seen with the female victims. Strangling is premortem and the stab wounds postmortem."

"Death by asphyxiation, in other words." The Xingese doctor sighed. "I know they're a sociopath. I know it! Living out some sick, twisted fantasy by brutally murdering innocent people." She took off her plastic gloves and tossed them in the trash before running her hands through her dark hair. "Winry, can you finish up in here? I've got some autopsy reports to enter into the system, including this one."

"Yeah, I got it." The blonde looked up from the bruises she was examining on the victim's neck. "And you don't have to worry about this one. I'll do the report since I'm almost done. I want you to go home and get some rest once you've finished. I know your sleep schedule has been completely screwed over because of this killer."

Mei chuckled. "My sleep schedule has always been that way, but thank you. I appreciate your concern." She was already constantly on-call to the scenes of the murders, most of which were either discovered or committed early in the morning. But it was part of her job, so she couldn't complain, no matter how much she sometimes wanted to. "I'll be in my office if you need me."

"Roger that."

Mei left the morgue in Winry's hands and headed up the stairs, briefly wondering why her office wasn't closer to the place where she did most of her work. Upon entering the mildly cluttered room the woman hung her lab coat on a hook before walking over to one of the several sets of drawers lining the walls. "Which to complete first..." she muttered, thinking back to the three cases that were yet to be put into the computer. She rolled her eyes before deciding to just get the three files out and work from there.

"Let's see," she said aloud, flipping through the folder she knew contained reports that were only on paper. She frowned.

There were only two sets.

That wasn't right. It couldn't be. A quick glance told her that one was just the report of a man's suicide and not relevant to the serial murders and the other was that of Maria Ross – an officer who had been killed in suspected arson.

But the missing one _was_ that of a victim in the serial murders – Maes Hughes.

Mei herself had not performed the autopsy in his case, but she could not recall handing the report over to anyone. In fact, she didn't think anyone had seen it but herself.

She checked other drawers under the labels 'H' and even 'M', wondering if somehow it had simply been filed incorrectly, but no such luck.

"Is this some sort of joke?" she muttered under her breath, trying not to panic. There had to be a logical explanation as to why the report was nowhere to be found. "Think, think!"

Nothing came to mind. Mei bit back a scream of frustration as she pulled her lab coat off the hook and onto her shoulders before running out of her office and down into the morgue. "Winry!"

The blonde jumped, almost dropping the pen she was holding as she made notes on the autopsy she had just finished performing. "Mei! You scared me." Then she noticed the panicked look in the Xingese woman's eyes. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I'm missing an autopsy report," she explained, tucking a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear. "Maes Hughes. Do you have any idea where it might be, or who it might have been handed off to?"

Winry shook her head, worry forming in her blue eyes. "No. I haven't even seen that report. All I know about it is what you've told me."

Mei cursed under her breath. Maes Hughes had been an investigator with the FBI and so she'd been instructed to keep the details of his death as quiet as possible. "Right. Sorry." Could she herself had misplaced it somewhere?

No. It was impossible. She'd looked the report over only once before putting in the correct drawer. She remembered it distinctly.

"Mei..." Winry said slowly, resting a hand on her hip as a thoughtful expression fell upon her features. "Do you think someone could have stolen it?"

The doctor raised a brow at her words. "Stolen? I don't think..." She trailed off as her eyes widened in horror. "Oh no."

"What?"

The dark-haired girl cursed. "A few days ago. You weren't here. I don't think anyone was, because it was after hours. I was called by Ling to report to a scene immediately, and I left without a second thought. I left the doors unlocked. I remember because I felt like a complete idiot afterwards." She groaned, holding her head in her hands. "I checked to see if anything had been taken, but there weren't any signs of breaking and entering – not that there needed to be, since I practically left the doors wide open."

"It's not your fault," Winry said in her matter-of-fact tone. "It could have happened to anyone, understand? You've just had a ton on your plate lately and no one blames you for it."

Mei sighed. "Thanks. I appreciate your support – I really do. I have no idea what I'd do without you."

The blonde chuckled, smirking. "I know. You're lucky I've got your back."

The medical examiner rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah." She sighed a second time. "I guess I'll go page Ling and report the theft." She hesitated, then corrected herself, "Actually, I have to call in. I think Ling just managed to get the rest of the week off so he can spend time with Lan Fan. I don't want to bother them."

"I wonder why someone would take those papers," Winry mused. "I mean, they only took that one report. Nothing else. All the others relating to the murders are still there, so they didn't need everything, clearly."

"I've already got a hypothesis," Mei said as she dialed 911. "I think there was something in that report that the killer didn't want us to know about, so they came in to take it back before we could notice."

"In other words," her assistant added, "they screwed up badly enough to the point they were worried we could track them, huh?"

Mei nodded before moving her phone to her ear.

"911, what is your emergency?"

The Xingese woman explained what had happened and where she was located. The operator promised to have a few officers sent over immediately. Until then she was asked to stay put and to look over her office a second time just in case she'd missed it.

"Now we wait," Mei said with a sigh as she hung up and tucked her cell phone away. "I was really hoping to go home early today." Then she laughed bitterly. "As if."

xXxXxXx

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the glass double doors.

"I'll get it," Mei called to Winry from her office, putting down the reports she did have that she was entering into the computer.

"Roger that!"

The dark-haired woman brushed herself off and prayed she looked somewhat presentable before heading down the hall to the lobby where the entrance was. Standing outside were two officers she'd never seen before.

Both were blonde, though one had much longer hair than the other. Both also had golden eyes, but the attitudes radiating from the two couldn't have been more different.

Mei found herself drawn to the taller officer. She wasn't sure why, per se – but his eyes glimmered with a certain mixture of intelligence, kindness, and strength. A blush painted her cheeks as she realized her thoughts were exactly that of a young schoolgirl.

She hastily pushed her feelings aside and opened the door for the two men. "Afternoon, officers," she greeted politely. "I'm so glad –"

"I'm afraid there's no time for talk," the man with longer hair interrupted, staring down at her with a look that seemed less than impressed. "We need to speak to the chief medical examiner immediately. Are you his secretary?"

Mei felt her cheeks get hot from a mixture of both embarrassment and anger. She managed to calm herself and say, "Pardon me, Officer...?"

"Elric. Edward Elric"

"Officer Elric." She reached into her pocket and removed the silver badge of the chief medical examiner. "You're speaking to me right now. And while I appreciate you coming here to assist me, I do not appreciate your rudeness. If we're going to be working together I expect a certain level of respect. Understand?"

He turned a brilliant shade of crimson at her words. He tried to reply, but all that came out was incoherent sputtering.

Mei sniffed and put her badge away.

The other officer laughed. "I apologize for my older brother's behavior, Doctor Chang. He never knows when to keep his mouth shut."

"So I noticed," she said wryly. "But it's fine. Even though I've been here for nearly five years now, there's still skeptics."

"My name is Alphonse. Ed and I are transfers from Amestris." He gestured towards his sibling. "And while he may not look it, he's a retired FBI officer."

Mei raised a brow. "Really? I'm doubly sorry for my abruptness, then. I meant no disrespect, Edward."

Alphonse laughed again when her brother didn't reply and instead choose to cross his arms and nod. "Sorry. He's completely incorrigible, Doctor Chang."

"Call me Mei," she replied. "Anyways. You know why you're here. Do you need to see my office? Or the morgue? Is there someone you need to talk to in particular?"

"Bring us to your office first," Edward instructed. "When we're in there we'd like you to tell us everything you know about the report that was stolen."

"Understood." Mei led the two officers down the hall and held open the door for them. "I searched through the files where the report should have been as well as where it might have accidentally ended up, but I found nothing."

"What was in the missing report?" Alphonse asked as Edward began going through each and every drawer.

"Try not to get those out of order," Mei said to the older brother before returning her attention to the younger. "It was the autopsy report of Maes Hughes."

"Was that all it contained?"

"No. It also contained photos of the crime scene where his body was discovered."

"Anything else?"

She hesitated. "I'm not certain. I only briefly looked at the papers relevant to my job, which were the two I've already stated. It's possible there was something else inside that I may not have noticed or simply paid no attention to."

Alphonse wrote something down on the notepad she had not noticed he was holding until that point. "That's understandable. I would have done the same. When did you receive the report?"

Mei frowned. "Four days ago, I believe. I did not perform the autopsy – the FBI did. They sent the report to me because they know my office has received every other body from the serial killings. I found it slightly odd I was not allowed to perform the autopsy, but Hughes worked with the FBI, so I assumed that was why."

"When do you suspect the report was stolen?"

"Two days ago. I was called out of my office to report to a scene and left the doors unlocked."

Edward snorted. "Wow."

Mei glared at him. "It was eleven o' clock at night and I had performed nine autopsies that day, Officer. I won't tell you the details because I doubt you could stomach it. I'm well aware I was being stupid, but it was not intentional in any manner."

"Anyways," Alphonse said pointedly, "was anyone else here at the time? And did anyone else know about the autopsy report prior to its disappearance?"

The Xingese doctor bit her lip as she tried to remember. "As I said, it was after hours, so I was here alone..." She paused, and her eyes widened. "No, I wasn't alone. There was a security guard."

Alphonse raised a brow, and Edward paused his search in order to listen.

She cursed. "But I don't know who. It is possible to find it in the system, however. I can take a look –"

"Mei," a voice interrupted. Winry walked into the office, looking down at the papers in her hand. "I just finished writing this down, and I was wondering if –" Her jaw dropped when she noticed the two officers in the room. "Ed?! Al?! What are you doing here?!"

"Winry?" Alphonse said in disbelief, echoed by his brother.

"I thought you two were working in Amestris," Winry said, putting a hand on her hip. "Did you two lie to me?!"

"We transferred," Edward replied, rolling his eyes. "Why would we lie about something so insignificant, huh?"

"Edward Elric, I'll have you know –"

"Oh, Winry knew about the report on Maes Hughes before it was stolen," Mei interrupted, snapping her fingers as the memory came to mind. "I remember telling her because I thought it'd be best if my assistant knew."

"You're her assistant?" Edward repeated. "I thought you wanted to go into the prosthetics business."

"I do," Winry retorted. "This job is how I'm paying through college and physical therapy instruction classes."

"Winry," Mei said, paying no attention to what the two were talking about, "do you remember what security guard was on duty two days ago? On the night shift?"

The blonde woman frowned. "Two days ago? Let me think..." She bit her lip. "Two days ago... That was Wednesday... Oh! It must have been Yoki. You dismissed me early and I said goodbye to him on the way out."

"Yoki," Alphonse murmured, making a note. "Is he here now?"

"Yes," Winry said, blinking in surprise. "Why? Do you think he was somehow involved in the disappearance of the report?"

"It's possible –"

"Yoki would never do such a thing!" Mei protested. Or she hoped he hadn't, if nothing else.

"We're not accusing him of anything," Alphonse reassured her. "I promise that he won't be convicted unless we have absolute proof."

She frowned, and probably would have argued further had it not been Alphonse talking to her. She'd known him for all of ten minutes and he'd already managed to get under her skin. "Fine. But if you don't uphold the status quo of 'innocent until proven guilty,' I'll sue. Follow me. Also, Winry – it'd be great if you could put the report from today into the system."

"Of course."

The Xingese doctor left her office, the Elric brothers behind her. She could detect the confusion from the two men. She'd even go so far as to admit she had been oddly adamant about holding no prejudice towards Yoki. But once they saw him she was sure they'd understand.

Several hallways later they found Yoki himself.

"You're the Yoki who works here?" Edward said in disbelief, staring at the short, dark-haired man.

He nodded, unable to stop himself from laughing nervously. "Yes?"

"Yoki," Mei said, stepping forward, "these gentlemen have some questions for you about two days ago when we suspect an autopsy report was stolen. Okay?"

Yoki nodded. "O-Of course."

"If you don't mind, Chang," Edward began, "it'd be preferable if you would –"

"I will not be going anywhere, Officer," she interrupted. "And if you must address me by my last name, it's Doctor Chang."

"It's fine if you stay," Alphonse said, giving her a warm smile and causing her to blush more than she'd care to admit. "All we ask is you don't interrupt."

Mei rolled her eyes. "That goes without saying. I've participated in investigations before, you know."

It's the Amestrian's turn to flush a bright red. "R-Right." He cleared his throat and took out his notebook before turning to face Yoki. "What do you remember of the events from Wednesday, two days ago?"

"Specifically?"

"As specific as you can, yes."

"Well, I didn't come into work until late. That Rockbell girl said goodbye to me when she left around nine."

"Where did she leave the building?" Edward asked.

"The front doors. When she left I continued to make my rounds. No one showed up until close to midnight."

Mei's eyes widened at the guard's words. "Midnight?" She hadn't returned until almost one.

Yoki nodded, apparently indifferent to her reaction. "Yes. It was an FBI agent."

Edward and Alphonse exchanged suspicious looks.

"They showed me their badge and said that they'd been ordered to pick up a few documents relating to a case. There was a car waiting outside as well. I couldn't see the driver, but if I had to guess I'd say it was a woman."

"When did they leave? Can you recall?"

Yoki frowned. "Hmm... Maybe fifteen minutes later? They were carrying one of those manila folders. They just left. Pretty rude of them, now that I think about it."

"Was the agent who came in male or female?"

"Um..." The dark-haired man shrugged. "Again, I couldn't tell. It was dark and they didn't really say much to me. I'd guess they were a guy." He snapped his fingers. "Oh! They – he? – had oddly colored eyes. I'd have to say they were almost purple. I thought that was pretty strange."

"Can you remember anything else?" Alphonse asked. "Did the agent show you the papers, by any chance?"

"No. They just got them and left."

The blonde snapped his notebook shut. "You've been very helpful, Yoki. Thank you."

Yoki beamed. "You're welcome, Officer. I'm glad I was able to be of assistance."

The three left the man behind and headed back towards Mei's office.

"Do you understand why I was worried you might hold prejudice towards him?" Mei said, her arms crossed over her chest. "I know officers are not kind towards ex-convicts."

Edward snorted. "Please. We –"

"You worries were understandable," Alphonse interrupted. "And I'm sure you also understand how far-fetched his story seems. The implication of an FBI agent is a very serious accusation."

"Oh, I know," Mei replied. "So we'll go the FBI tomorrow and conduct and investigation. Simple."

Alphonse frowned. "I don't know..."

"That's what I was going to suggest," Edward said, staring the two down. "We can conduct an impromptu investigation under the facade that we need to talk to Hughes' closest friend – Mustang. There's also some officers there that were at the scene when Hughes' body was discovered. We'll get as much information as we can about Hughes' death and try to recreate the stolen report. Easy."

"It seems you've actually had a good idea," Mei smirked.

"And you won't be coming," the blonde added.

The Xingese woman's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?!"

"I said you won't be coming."

"And why can't I? I'm partially at fault for this, not to mention it was a crime within my own office. I have every right to be there."

"She's right, Ed," Alphonse said meaningfully.

Edward groaned. "I bet you just want to hang out with her again because she's your type. But whatever. Fine."

Alphonse shook his head, though he was smiling. And if Mei wasn't mistaken, a light blush was painted on his cheeks. "We'll pick you up here tomorrow around 8."

Mei beamed at him. "Excellent. I look forward to it." The officers said their goodbyes and left, leaving the girl all alone in the hallway. She glanced at the watch on her wrist, sighing when she saw it wasn't even four o' clock yet.

Then her thoughts drifted back to the Elric brothers. Specifically the younger one. Edward was far too rude for her taste.

But Alphonse...? She chuckled quietly to herself. She was certainly looking forward to seeing him again.

xXxXxXx

 **I'm a bit rusty, in case you couldn't tell. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you again tomorrow for Day 2: Growth/Tradition!**


	9. Growth-Tradition

**I'd like to apologize in advance for my pitiful attempt at sticking to the prompt. I failed pretty badly. But it's longer than the last chapter, so hopefully that makes up for it! Enjoy Day 2: Growth/Tradition. This fits more along the lines of 'growth.'**

 **Note:** I wanted to use Envy and Lust in this fic, but clearly those names wouldn't work in a modern AU. So, I used Google Translate (I know - I'm terrible) to find alternate names for them. Envy is Neid (German) and Lust is Luxure (French).

 **Note 2.0:** Short-haired Envy is my aesthetic.

 **Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine.

xXxXxXx

"Took you guys long enough," Mei grumbled in a joking tone as she climbed into the back of the Elric's police car. "I thought I was going to have to tell Winry that she wouldn't be by herself today after all."

"Sorry about that," Alphonse apologized, turning around from the front passenger seat to face her. "Ed overslept."

"Wow. Classic."

"In my defense," Edward retorted, briefly looking in the rear-view mirror to glance back at Mei, "it's because I was up late doing as much research as I could on Maes Hughes."

"As was I," the doctor countered, "and I'd bet I was up earlier than the both of you."

The older Amestrian muttered something under his breath but didn't comment, earning laughter from both Alphonse and Mei.

"So what's the plan?" Mei asked when their laughter had died off. "I didn't think you'd take too kindly to me coming up with something, so I figured I'd just be along for the ride."

"First things first. We'll talk to ex-colonel Mustard –"

"Ed." Alphonse interrupted his older sibling. "Be polite."

Edward rolled his eyes before continuing. "We'll talk to _Mustang_ first. He was Hughes' closest friend and is the best person to ask if he knew what Hughes might have gotten into that would have resulted in his death."

"It's also safe to ask him if something might be going on within the FBI," Alphonse added. "He's probably one of the most trustworthy guys there."

"But it's pretty likely that he can only tell us a few things, right?" Mei asked. "The FBI isn't very lenient when it comes to releasing information."

"Exactly, which is why after that we'll talk to his gang," Edward said as he ran a yellow light, earning a frown from his younger brother, which he pointedly ignored. "Hawkeye was one of the investigators at the scene, so hopefully she'll be able to reveal some details to us. Fuery took photographs and should still have them – he's probably our best bet for info. If we can find Havoc, Breda, or Falman we might as well talk to them, too."

"And while we're there we check around for agents with purple eyes, right?" Mei smirked.

For once, the ex-agent didn't retort with a snarky remark. "Hell yes we are," he agreed, racing through a red light before turning into the parking lot. "Let's do this."

The three exited the car and made their way into the building. A tired-looking secretary at the desk glanced up at them. "Do you have an appointment with someone?"

"We're friends of Mustang," Edward replied. "Tell him it's the Elric brothers."

"Or tell him it's the Shrimp," Alphonse suggested innocently, earning him an elbow to the stomach from his brother and snickering from Mei.

The woman seemed skeptical but picked up the phone and dialed. "Mr. Mustang? There are some people who want to see you. They said they're the Elric brothers." She paused, as if listening. A frown fell on her lips. "But Mr. Mustang – Mr. Mustang –" She sighed. "Fine. I'll send them up." She placed the phone back down and sent us an odd look. "Go on ahead."

Edward immediately headed towards the stairs without a second thought, while Alphonse and Mei hung behind to thank the secretary and ask what room number Mustang's was and the floor it was on before following.

"I'm glad the two of you decided to let me tag along," Mei said as they headed up the stairs to the third floor.

"I get the feeling you'd have shown up even if we had told you not to," Alphonse chuckled.

"I suppose I can't deny that."

"But there was never a possibility we wouldn't have asked you to come," he continued. "Ed may act like a jerk, but he doesn't mean it. He just likes to do things on his own. When he found out I planned to go into the police force he nearly had a heart attack."

"He doesn't want his little brother to be in danger, right?" Mei laughed. "My half-brother was the exact same. At first he was relieved when he found out I was more into the medical side of things, but now I think he realizes what I see is worse than what he does."

Alphonse shuddered. "I'd have to agree with him. There are times when I can barely stomach the crime scenes. I don't understand how you're able to see that and then basically dissect the bodies."

The Xingese woman sighed. "If I said that you get used to it I'd be lying through my teeth. I just had to learn to 'grow up,' I suppose. I work with the dead to help the living, and that's something I have to remind myself of every day."

Alphonse shook his head. "I hope you know that the force is lucky to have someone as dedicated as yourself."

She smiled at him. "You flatter me, Alphonse."

"I aim to please."

The conversation ended as they continued to make their way up the stairs. They found Edward waiting for them at the entrance to the third floor, a mixture of embarrassment and impatience dancing in his golden eyes.

"I hope the two of you thought to ask for Mustard's room number?"

Mei smirked. "You're lucky we did, Shrimp."

"Don't call me a shrimp, you little bean sprout!" Edward seethed, glaring at her.

She returned his glare with one of her own. "You wanna try me, you little –"

"Don't call me _little_!"

Alphonse quickly moved between the two in an attempt to separate them. "Alright, alright. That's enough of that."

Mei realized her behavior was equivalent to that of a young child and took a deep breath to calm herself. "Sorry. I got carried away."

The blonde chuckled. "Didn't you just say you had to grow up quickly in order to be chief medical examiner?"

She turned a brilliant shade of crimson at his words and could not manage a reply to defend herself.

"Gotta keep your brother and your girlfriend separate, eh, Alphonse?"

The trio's attention was drawn to a man with dirty blonde hair and cigarette sticking out of the corner of his mouth.

"G-Girlfriend?!" Alphonse sputtered, cheeks turning a shade of red akin to that of Mei's. "N-No, she's just, she's –" He sighed.

Edward snickered at his brother's and Mei's embarrassment. "He'll deny it, Havoc, but I bet they'll be hitched in a month."

Havoc took a puff of his cigarette before smirking. "Nah. Three weeks, Ed. Three weeks."

Mei glared at both men. "If the two of you keep it up, I'll kill you twice. First in cold blood, and the second time in the morgue. Believe me when I say I've done enough autopsies to know exactly how to cover my tracks."

Edward whistled. "You've got yourself a feisty one, Al."

Mei desperately wanted to strangle the blonde officer, but managed to prevent herself from doing so. Revenge could come later.

"Anyways," Alphonse said pointedly in an attempt to change the subject, "what are you doing here, Havoc? Has Riza managed to convince Mustang to give you a break?"

Havoc winked at the boy. "Mustang doesn't even know I'm out here. I'm waiting for my girlfriend, Luxure. We met a month or so ago and hit it off. I've got my fingers crossed she's the one."

"That's what you said about that last girl," Edward retorted, rolling his eyes. "And doesn't Hawkeye still want you to go out with her friend?"

"You mean Rebecca?"

"Yeah, her."

Havoc's cheeks darkened ever so slightly. "I'm not interested in the likes of that woman."

Alphonse raised a brow at the man's denial, a smirk dancing on his lips. "Is that so, Havoc? Your face begs to differ."

Havoc shook his head. "I may have been just a tad interested a month ago, but then I met Luxure and I'm almost certain things are going to work out with her. Besides – Catalina probably has men dropping to her feet and worshipping the ground she walks on. Anyways, Luxure and I hung out pretty much all of last night and a few nights before, but I wanted to do something a little more romantic with her. We'll be –"

"Jean?"

A rich and almost sultry feminine voice interrupted their conversation. All heads turned to see an admittedly gorgeous woman with long dark hair and a well-endowed chest walking towards them.

Mei suddenly found herself rather self-conscious.

"Luxure!" Havoc grinned like a lovestruck teenager as he dropped the cigarette and ground it beneath his heel. "Glad you were able to make it."

She smiled. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world, you know. It's nice to get out of the office and have a break once in a while." She glanced at the group. "Would you like to introduce me to your friends, Jean?"

Havoc nodded hastily. "Right." He gestured to each person in turn. "That's Ed, that's Al, and..." He hesitated when he got to Mei. "Miss, I'm afraid I don't know your name."

The Xingese doctor shook her head, though a small smile was dancing on her lips. "Doctor Mei Chang. I'm the chief medical examiner for this jurisdiction."

Luxure raised a brow at her words, her maroon eyes gleaming. "Is that so? I've heard many things about your office, Doctor Chang – most of which are good, of course. It's nice to finally meet you."

"I'm rather surprised the FBI hasn't tarnished my reputation," Mei replied, her eyes twinkling. "I appreciate your kind words, Miss Luxure."

The woman answered with a nod before returning her attention to her boyfriend. "Ready to go, Jean? I made reservations at a classy restaurant because it's been so long since we were last able to go out for something nice together."

"Isn't it a bit early for lunch?" Edward asked.

"It's more of a brunch," Havoc replied. "And Luxure, that sounds great." He returned his attention to the trio. "I'll see you guys later! By the way – Mustang's in his office, so you aren't going to have to wander the building searching for him."

"Thank you, Havoc," Alphonse said, smiling at the man.

Havoc offered them a mock-salute before extending his arm to Luxure, who graciously accepted. Mei watched them walk away, something nagging her in the back of her mind. Her eyes widened as it clicked.

"Yoki said the agent had eyes that looked almost purple, right?"

Alphonse nodded. "Yes. Why?"

"That woman's eyes were maroon. Kind of pink," she replied. "They could easily be mistaken for purple in the darkness."

Alphonse frowned, and Mei could almost see the gears turning in his head. "You think she was the agent Yoki let into the building?"

"I don't know what to think," the doctor sighed. "There's no proof, first off. And she very well could have some sort of alibi. Not to mention Yoki could be mistaken about the so-called intruder's eye color."

"Another thing you need to keep in mind," Edward added, his arms crossed over his chest, "is that Yoki wasn't able to determine the gender of the agent he let in. Even in the darkness I think it's pretty obvious that Luxure is a woman."

Mei felt her cheeks get hot as yet another hole in her suspicions was pointed out. "Right. I forgot about that."

"But I don't trust her," the blonde continued. "Something about her entire persona just kind of seems off. Maybe she was driving the getaway van. I feel like she was somehow involved."

Alphonse rolled his eyes. "I'm tempted to agree, but I'm getting the vibe that I need to be the rational person here and point out that a gut feeling is not enough to convict someone. Not to mention Havoc said she'd been with him all night for the last few nights. That's a possible alibi right there."

His older brother waved his hand dismissively. "I know, I know. But it does mean I'm not going to try to dig up some dirt on her."

Mei couldn't help but grin. "Agreed."

"Let's move on now," Alphonse said, changing the subject. "Havoc said that Mustang's in his office, but if we spend too much time out here I bet we'll find out that he's left to go do something."

Edward snorted. "It's too early for him to go anywhere. You know Hawkeye would never let him."

They made their way down the hall to Mustang's room at the very end. After knocking on the door and not receiving an answer, Edward simply chose to barge in.

"Mustang! Why weren't you –" He stopped abruptly upon seeing a certain blonde officer pointing a gun at a very tearful dark-haired man.

Alphonse laughed. "Is this how you have you make him do his paperwork, Riza?"

"I'm afraid so," the lieutenant replied calmly, her aim not wavering. "But whatever works is fine with me."

Mei was unable to keep the look of horror off her face. "Do you actually intend on shooting him if he doesn't get it done?!"

"Not in the head," was the woman's only reply.

"I take it you've come on business, right?" Mustang said as he signed the last sheet of paper in front of him. "Here, Lieutenant – I've finished."

Hawkeye removed the stack of papers from in front of him and briefly skimmed through it before nodding and putting her gun away. "Thank you, sir. I'll turn these in while you talk with your guests." She offered them a warm smile before leaving.

Mustang sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "At least that's finally done." He stared up at the small group. "You can sit down, you know."

"If you didn't choose to ignore your work the lieutenant wouldn't have to do that," Alphonse said as he sat. "And I'm sure she'd prefer it if she was able to get her own work done instead of having to babysit you all day."

The dark-haired man waved his hand dismissively. "I've heard that a thousand times, Alphonse."

"He just likes having Hawkeye's attention on him," Edward snickered. "Am I right, Colonel?"

Mustang pointedly ignored the older Elric's question. "I'm not a colonel anymore, Edward." He stared at them. "But that's beside the point. Why did you come here?"

"Information," Mei replied, speaking to the man for the first time. "You were a close friend of Maes Hughes, correct? Tell us everything you know about the circumstances surrounding his death."

Mustang studied the Xingese girl. "You're the chief medical examiner, aren't you? Mei Chang?"

"That's me."

"Why do you need information about Hughes?"

"His autopsy report was stolen," she replied, not missing a beat, "and we have reason to believe it was taken by someone who works in or with the FBI."

"Are you implying the serial killer we're all trying to hunt down works for the government?"

"Yes and no. It's a possibility that we can't discount, but there's also a chance his death was caused by someone who copied the killer in order to cover their tracks. But it seems that whoever killed him made some sort of mistake that was included in the autopsy report. They didn't want anyone to know, so they stole it."

Mustang stroked his chin in thought. "Must have been pretty bad." He sighed. "I honestly don't know much about Hughes' death. I was never allowed near the scene supposedly because I was such a close friend of his." He frowned. "Maybe it was because whoever killed him knew I'd be able to spot anything unusual. All I know is that he was shot in his chest and then stabbed six times."

Mei sighed. That was nothing new. "Anything else?"

"He was killed in the phone booth off of Seventh Street, and a photo of his family was found with his body."

She made a mental note of that.

"You'd be better off talking to the lieutenant," Mustang replied. "She was allowed to see the crime scene. For a while she was also one of the agents investigating it, but for some reason she was taken off the case."

"Probably because she works under you," Edward muttered. "They want as little information as possible to reach your ears."

"Exactly. She's told me everything she can about his death. I'm almost positive she knows more, however. I bet she's gone down to Fuery's office. He's on the second floor, room 2231."

"How convenient," Edward said, standing up. "We were hoping Fuery had copies of photos from the crime scene."

Mustang snorted. "I'd bet money he does. He makes about thirty copies of everything because he's so paranoid something could get lost or destroyed."

Mei laughed. "Well, that certainly works in our favor."

xXxXxXx

The trio ran into Hawkeye as they were going down the stairs.

"Lieutenant," Alphonse said, "is it okay if we ask you some questions about Maes Hughes' murder?"

The blonde woman nodded. "Certainly." She hesitated, looking around. "But not here. Follow me."

She turned on her heel and headed back down the stairs, the three of them right behind her. She led them to a small, empty room on the second floor.

"There aren't any cameras in here," she said simply upon seeing the looks of confusion on their faces. "What is it you need to know?"

"Anything you can tell us," Mei replied. "Events surrounding his death, what the crime scene looked like, any suspects you might have."

Riza sighed. "I'll tell you as much as I can. Our office has been under intense watch lately because we 'kept sticking our noses where it didn't belong.'"

"I have a feeling it was mostly Mustang," Alphonse laughed half-heartedly.

"Yes," Riza admitted. "He was probably very specific in how he answered the questions you had for him, correct? His room's been wire-tapped all over and we're certain there are hidden cameras as well."

"Well, that explains why he was so abrupt," Edward muttered. "I knew that there was no way he could have possibly been so clueless about Hughes' death."

"And he undoubtedly realized you'd figure that out, which is why he wanted you to come to me," she explained. "But I'm also under watch."

"Just tell us as much as you can, Lieutenant," Alphonse instructed. "Really, anything is helpful."

Riza hesitated, then nodded. "His cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the chest. There were six stab wounds, all postmortem from what I understood. The phone in the booth was on the receiver, implying someone besides Hughes had to have put it there. Unfortunately, no fingerprints were recovered from the phone. According to his secretary, he told her that the government was in danger before he left the building and presumably headed to Seventh Street. This suggests he was not in the wrong place at the wrong time, but was in fact a target." She hesitated a second time. "That is all I am at liberty to disclose right now. I recommend talking to Kain Fuery and seeing if he has photographs from the scene. Tell him Hawkeye wants you to be given _all_ of them."

"Roger that," Alphonse said, saluting her. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

"You're welcome," she replied, smiling warmly at them. "And if you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you inform me of anything new you might uncover."

"Of course."

The blonde woman glanced at the watch on her wrist. "I have to return to my office now. Do you know where Fuery's room is?"

"Yes ma'am," Mei said. "Mustang told us."

"Alright. I suggest waiting a few minutes before you go. It's better if we don't leave at the same time."

"Understandable," Mei conceded. "Thank you again."

Hawkeye nodded one last time before exiting the room.

"So, what do you two think?" Edward asked, his arms crossed over his chest. "It's obvious there's something strange going on here, and the government's completely wrapped up in it."

"Agreed," Mei said. She sighed. "I was really hoping that getting another copy of the autopsy report wouldn't be so complicated. But it's the FBI I'm working with. I should have expected it, I suppose."

Edward snorted. "Oh yeah. There's a reason I quit working for them, you know."

"I wonder," Alphonse mused, "if Hughes knew what was going on with the government and he was killed so he couldn't tell anyone about it."

"I get the feeling that's exactly what happened," Mei said. "But if I'm honest with you – I really couldn't care less what's going on in the government. Let them figure that out. All I want to do is catch the serial murderer."

"And if he works for the government?" Edward retorted.

"Well, then so be it. If the killer is the source of corruption and we catch them – great! Two birds with one stone. But if they aren't, I don't intend on getting myself mixed up in any internal affairs."

"Fair enough," Alphonse chuckled. "I have to agree with you on that." He checked the time on his watch. "It's been around five minutes. Let's head to Fuery's office now."

Being as casual as possible, the three left the empty room and headed down the hall where Kain Fuery's door was already wide open.

"Edward," the dark-haired man said in surprise as the trio walked in. "Alphonse. What are you doing here?" His gaze fell to Mei. "And who have you brought with you?"

"My name's Mei Chang." The Xingese woman answered quickly before Edward could introduce her as 'the bean sprout' or something to that effect. "I'm chief medical examiner for the Xing jurisdiction."

Fuery's eyes widened. "Oh, I remember you! You were at Maria Ross' homicide. I was the photographer there." He shook his head. "That really was s shame. She was such a nice lady. Good officer, too."

Mei nodded, her eyes heavy. "Yes. Her death was one of the worst I've seen in my career."

The was a pause before Fuery continued. "I'm sure you guys didn't come to visit me for fun. Is there something you need?"

"Hawkeye instructed us to have you give us _all_ the photographs from Hughes' crime scene," Alphonse said.

Fuery bit his lip. "I'm not allowed to –"

"Surely you aren't going to disobey an order from your commanding officer," Edward interrupted, a smirk dancing on his lips. "Am I right?"

Fuery sighed, shaking his head as if he knew he was going to regret this. "Fine. Give me a minute to find them." He knelt down behind his desk and started digging through the bottom file drawer. "I'll tell you in advance that they aren't the best photographs. They're photocopies I made. But they should still be adequate for whatever you need them for."

"The fact that you're giving them to us is honestly more than we expected," Mei replied. "As long as we can see what's going on, they should be fine."

A moment later Fuery stood up, holding a stack of photographs. "Here you go," he said, handing them to Alphonse.

"Before we go," Edward said, staring at the dark-haired man, "is there anything in particular that stood out to you at the crime scene?"

Fuery frowned. "Hmm... Well, a fingerprint was found on the side of the phone booth. I took several pictures of it, so you should have a few of those."

Mei's eyes widened. "That was why the autopsy report was stolen from my office. The killer left a fingerprint and didn't want anyone else knowing about it." She returned her attention to the man in front of her. "I'm guessing very few people know that you always make extra copies of photographs from crime scenes, correct?"

"Y-Yes. Why?"

"I'd bet money that any pictures handed over to the person in charge of Hughes' investigation coincidentally 'lost' the photos of the crime scene," she continued. "And that the autopsy report kept by the government is probably also 'lost.'"

Fuery's jaw dropped. "The phone booth."

"What about it?" Mei asked.

"It was destroyed accidentally a few days ago. A car ran off the road or something."

Edward snorted. "Accidentally my a–"

"Language," Alphonse interrupted. "But I have to agree. That's too convenient of a coincidence for the killer."

Mei cursed under her breath. "Now we can't go to the scene and spray it with luminol. I was hoping we'd be able to find the fingerprint again." She laughed bitterly. "Fuery, we'll be relying completely on your photographs. I hope they're good ones."

"Always," the man promised. He paused. "Before you go..." He reached into the top drawer of his desk and removed a thin manila folder. "You might want to keep this. I think there's... One or two photos in there with better quality than the ones I've already given you."

The trio was not blind to the meaningful look in Fuery's eyes.

"Thank you," Mei said, accepting the folder. "It's very kind of you."

"Just doing my job," he replied with an awkward laugh. "I'm afraid that's all I have."

"Trust me when I say it's more than enough." The Xingese doctor beamed as she handed the folder to Alphonse. "You may be helping save countless lives."

After a few minutes the three left Fuery to continue whatever he'd been doing before they'd arrived. Upon reaching an empty hall, Alphonse quickly flipped open the folder to reveal five or six crisp photographs, all from Hughes' crime scene.

Most were of the man's body, slumped up against something inside the phone booth, all taken from various angles. Two others, however, were nearly perfect pictures of a bloody fingerprint on the ground.

Mei's eyes widened. "This is amazing. We can run this through the system to see if we get a hit – well, in a few days, at least."

"What I want to know is why there was such a clean print on the ground," Edward muttered. "Unusual place to find something like that, isn't it? And the fact that it's only the one print annoys me."

"The most obvious explanation is that the killer fell over," Mei said simply, "but I agree – you'd think there would be more than one."

"But if you look closely you can see that blood near the print is smeared," Alphonse pointed out. "So if the killer did fall, they likely moved their hand when they tried to stand back up. That would ruin any other possibility of a print. I personally we're lucky that one was left behind."

"We need to speak to whoever's in charge of Hughes' case," Mei said as the blonde tucked the pictures away into the folder. "There's a slim chance that they haven't run the print in the system yet. If they're a competent officer, I'm sure they did and nothing showed up, but if they haven't –" The Xingese doctor stopped abruptly, realizing she was rambling. "We just really need to speak to whoever had control over Hughes' case."

"Hughes? As in, Maes Hughes?"

The trio's attention was drawn to a rather androgynous man with short hair that seemed to be a very dark green. His eyes were also green – though it was shade much brighter than his hair.

"Yes," Edward said quickly. "Maes Hughes. His case. We're looking for whoever was in charge of his case."

The man chuckled, his eyes dancing with malice. "You're in luck. That would be me. Is there something you need?"

Something about this officer seemed off to Mei. She had no idea what it was nor did she have a valid reason as to what made her suspicious of him, but her gut was telling her not to trust this guy, and more often than not her instinct than right. The looks in both Alphonse's and Edward's eyes told her that they were picking up similar vibes from the man.

Something clicked, and she realized what seemed odd about the man's appearance.

Contacts. He was wearing contacts.

"We just have a few questions about the circumstances surrounding Hughes' death, Officer...?" Alphonse trailed off as he realized he didn't know his name.

"Neid," the man replied. "What would you like to know?"

"We're interested in the fingerprint that was found at the scene of the crime," Mei explained. "Was there a hit when you ran it in the system?"

Neid smirked. "If there had been, girlie, I would have reported it to my superiors."

Mei resisted the urge to slap this man. "I assumed that was the case. Thank you, sir."

"Glad I was able to help." At that, he left the trio to themselves.

"I don't like him," Edward growled.

Alphonse nodded in agreement. "He seemed... Full of himself."

Mei snorted. "I'm glad to know we're all getting that impression from him. I was worried it was just me." She decided not to mention her suspicion that the man was wearing contacts. There was always the possibility that she was wrong, after all.

"I didn't like how rude he was to you," the younger Elric muttered. "Calling you 'girlie' like that. I bet you were in school twice as long as he was to get where you are today."

The Xingese woman was secretly flattered by his words, but her expression didn't show even the slightest hint of it. "He was rude to all of us. I get the feeling that by investigating this case we'll be biting off more than we can chew."

"I love a challenge," Edward smirked. "But can you handle it, Doctor Chang?"

Mei laughed aloud. "Just try me, Elric." Her pager suddenly rang, startling her. She sighed upon reading it. "Great. I have to leave, I'm afraid – someone's been mauled."

Alphonse looked alarmed. "By what?"

She rolled her eyes. "A lion, obviously. I don't know." Then she chuckled. "It was probably a dog. But they can't be too careful – there are some weapons out there that can really tear a human up. Which is why I need to go to the scene." She started to walk away, then paused. "It'd be very helpful, actually, if one or both of you could come by my office tomorrow with the photographs so we can examine them."

"Will do," Edward said, mock-saluting the girl. "Have fun dissecting people until then."

Alphonse rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Mei – I won't let Ed tag along."

"Hey!"

Mei shook her head as she walked away, a smile dancing on her lips.

xXxXxXx

 **Yeah, this chapter really didn't stick much to the prompt, did it? I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. I'll see you tomorrow for Day 3: Aroma/Teacher!**


	10. Aroma-Teacher

**This chapter was quite fun to write - but I can promise you it's probably not 100% scientifically accurate. Nonetheless, it should hold some decent entertainment value. I hope you enjoy Day 3: Aroma/Teacher. The chapter probably fits more along the lines of 'aroma.'**

 **Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine. Yet.**

xXxXxXx

Mei looked up from the autopsy reports laid out in front of her when she heard a knock at the door. Alphonse was standing outside of her office, manila folder in hand.

"I let myself in the building," he chuckled, answering the unasked question. "I heard another victim of the killer was found, so I figured you'd be pretty busy.

She sighed. "Unfortunately, you're right, though her body hadn't arrived here yet. Most people think the autopsy is the worst part, but I disagree – the paperwork is. Dead bodies are in and out, but everything else can take hours." She grabbed the pages in front of her and made a small stack. "But you're here now, so I'm not going to going to bother with these until later. I assume you have the photographs?"

Alphonse nodded, walking into her office and placing the folder on her now clear desk. "Are you by yourself today?"

Mei shook her head. "No. Winry's in her office. We're expecting the 'delivery' in an hour or so. That means you might have to stick around for an autopsy if we don't finish with the photos in time."

He laughed. "Fine by me. I'm sure you can teach me a few things, anyway."

The Xingese woman smiled. "If that occurs, I'll see what I can do." She paused, the corners of her lips turning into a frown. "Did _you_ come by yourself?"

Alphonse's grin faltered. "Yeah. Is that okay?"

Mei's eyes widened. "Oh, yes!" she said hastily. "If I'm honest, I'm pretty happy Edward didn't tag along. You're the superior Elric by all means. Winry, however..." She sighed. "I don't know what she sees in your brother. He's as arrogant as they come, but to each their own, I suppose." She studied Alphonse from the corner of her eye, pleased by the blush dusted on his cheeks. "Me? I prefer someone more sensitive. Kinder. But still has a mind of their own."

The blonde raised a brow at her words. "Is that so? I'll give you a call if I find someone that fits that description."

She smirked. "How kind of you. But tell me – what do _you_ look for in a girl, Alphonse?"

"Hmm... Well, she has to be intelligent. And not willing to back down even when she's under pressure. But also empathetic – someone who understands what others are going through and knows how to comfort them."

"Oh, geez. Would you two stop your flirting already? I'm going to get diabetes from how sugary sweet you're being."

Both jumped and turned to see Winry standing in the doorway, a hand resting on her hip and a smirk on her face.

"We were not flirting," Mei retorted, ignoring the blush she knew was painted on her cheeks. "It was just..." She faltered, looking for the right words. "Playful banter?"

Winry snorted. "Right. Anyways." She handed a folder to the Xingese woman. "I just finished putting this report in the computer. Anything else you need me to do before I get started on the next set?"

"Actually," Mei said, standing from her desk, "it'd be great if you could help Alphonse and I go over the photos of Hughes' crime scene we received from Fuery. Two sets of eyes is great, but three is even better."

Her assistant shrugged. "Sure. Should we go down into the morgue?"

"If that's the place we're least likely to be interrupted, I'm fine with it," Alphonse said.

Mei chuckled. "Don't worry. There shouldn't be any bodies on the table."

"Good to know."

The three went down the stairs and into the slightly colder air of the morgue, where they laid the photographs out on the autopsy table.

"These are more than likely going to be our most valuable pictures," Mei said, moving the images of the fingerprint away from the rest. "We need to scan these as soon as we can. I know right now a large selection of prints are being added to the system, so I want to wait until they've finished in order to have a better chance of getting results."

"I'm going to be completely honest with you guys," Winry said, studying the photo of Hughes inside the phone booth. "There's no way Hughes could be propped up inside there like that of his own accord. Someone had to position him. And I'd bet money it was the killer."

"I wonder if the FBI thought to check his body for latent prints," Mei mused. "Of course, if our suspicions are correct and his murder investigation was somehow managed by a corrupt individual, then I doubt it was." She was tempted to bring up the idea of exhuming Hughes body, but decided against it. It was a bit early for her to suggest something quite that drastic.

"I could have Ed check to see if they did, if you want," Alphonse said. "He's at the FBI today. Riza needed his help with something. I told him to keep an eye out for Luxure and Neid. He said he'd also talk to Havoc and see if Luxure _does_ have an alibi for three nights ago."

"No, don't bother. I don't want him to seem suspicious and then somehow get thrown under the bus. It's bad enough that I've started getting death threats – we don't need him to receive any as well."

Alphonse froze. "You've started getting _what_?!"

Mei rolled her eyes. "They're nothing. Just letters telling me to back off the case – or else. Ooh. I'm so terrified, in case you couldn't tell."

The younger Elric pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mei, why didn't you say something?"

"For one, I always get letters like that. It comes with the job. And I've only received one relating to the Maes Hughes case. Maybe twenty minutes before you arrived." She reached into the pocket of her lab coat and pulled out a plastic bag with a crumpled envelope inside, smoothing it before she placed it on the table. "It basically says that if I keep working on the case, no good will come of it." Alphonse opened his mouth to speak, but she held her hand up to silence him. "This means we're closer to catching them than anyone else has gotten. They're paranoid."

"If you think Mei's going to give up then you're crazy, Al," Winry said, crossing her arms. "You thought I was stubborn? This girl's ten times worse."

Alphonse sighed. "Well, I was going to tell you to stop working on the case, but I guess that would be pretty pointless, huh?"

Mei smirked. "Yes. Yes it would." She glanced at the letter. "I'm tempted to burn it, but I want to check for prints. I've only handled it with gloves on in order to preserve them. If there are any, at least."

"I can dust it, if you want," Alphonse offered. "I brought a kit just in case."

"That'd be great!"

"Let me go get it from my car."

After he left, the two women returned their attention to the photographs in front of them.

"Alright," Mei said, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear, "let's go over what we know so far. We've got a print that more than likely belongs to the killer."

"But what if it doesn't?" Winry suggested, playing the role of the devil's advocate – or perhaps a defense attorney. "What if it's from a careless officer at the scene?"

"It's true that we can't discount that possibility," Mei conceded, "but any decent officer would report his error and the photographs would likely either not have been taken at all or would not have been considered significant enough to have in detail or high quality." She studied a picture of Hughes' body. "It's also clear that it was more than likely the killer who propped his body up in such a way. FBI agents should know very well not to interfere with a crime scene."

Winry nodded. "Agreed." She picked up an image of a close up shot of Hughes' wounds. "He was stabbed six times, like all the other victims." She handed the photo to Mei, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Something about that seems off to me. Let's compare some different scenes. Give me a sec and I'll grab the files on all the other victims." She left the room, leaving Mei by herself.

The Xingese woman frowned as she examined the picture. Winry was right – something did seem off. But she couldn't place her finger on what.

Just then, Alphonse walked back into the room, cell phone to his ear. "Do you have any idea _why_ they've started targeting him?" He paused, then rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. I get it. Send me a text once you've got more information. Have you come across Havoc yet?" He sighed, and Mei bit back a laugh at the expression of exasperation painted on his face. "Fine, Ed. Anyways, I have to hang up now – do _not_ screw yourself over. Bye." He tapped the phone before tucking it into his pocket. "Sorry about that – he's such a hassle."

"Did he figure something out?" Mei asked curiously.

"Not exactly. But apparently Yoki is now under suspicion of stealing the autopsy report _and_ Hughes murder because his accusation of an FBI agent is 'absolutely outrageous.' At least, that's what Mustang told Ed. But I bet the fact that he's an ex-convict isn't helping his case."

Mei's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me?!" She massaged her temples. "See, that's why I will never work for the government in such a direct manner. They can never fathom the idea that there's a traitor in their ranks. They'll pin the crime on the first person they can."

"That's why Ed quit. He was sick of their games."

She sighed. "I get the feeling that things have been corrupt within the FBI for more years than we can count."

"Agreed."

"Anyways." She handed him the bag with the envelope in it. "You can dust this for prints now. Just be careful not to get it on anything else. It can be a pain to remove."

He nodded. "Roger that." He took the bag and moved to the side of the room just as Winry returned.

"Alright," she said, plunking the folders onto the table. "I'll read these aloud one at a time while you tell me if there are any strange inconsistencies with Hughes' case. Okay?"

"Got it," Mei said.

"First victim was a woman. Hazel Jones. 23 years old. Worked in a retail store. No criminal background. Both parents living. No significant other. No children."

And so they went on, with Winry going through each file as Mei mentally compared their cases to Hughes'. After a good forty five minutes or so, they got to the final folder.

"Most recent victim before Hughes was a male. Alex Jackson. 18 years old. Worked in a fast food restaurant. Fined for shoplifting at the age of 15. Parents divorced. No significant other. No children." Winry stopped. "Did anything seem off to you?"

"Quite a few things, actually," Mei said, crossing her arms over her chest. "For one, Hughes was easily the oldest victim we've had so far. A seven year age difference. He was also the only victim employed with the military – the rest all worked for minor establishments or didn't have a job at all."

"Easier prey, in other words," Winry noted.

"Exactly. Hughes was also the only one to die from a gunshot wound to the chest and not the head. Only one other victim was married with children like he was." Mei stared at her assistant, eyes heavy. "I'm getting the feeling that Hughes was the main target, Winry. I think the other victims were a sort of 'cover-up.'"

The blonde woman cursed under her breath. "I can't believe it. Who would kill dozens of people just to make it seem like the death of one person was a coincidence?"

"More than you'd think," Alphonse said from the side of the room. "And I hate to interrupt your discussion, but I managed to salvage a partial print from this envelope. I want to compare it to the print from the crime scene. Do you have –"

"Right over there," Winry interrupted, gesturing the computer behind her. "Use that."

He nodded. "Thanks."

Mei handed him one of the crisper photos of the fingerprint. "Have fun with that. I hate matching up prints. Too time-consuming."

He chuckled at the expression of disgust on her face. "Then you're lucky I'm here."

Winry and Mei returned their attention to the photographs laid out on the table.

"There really is something off about this photo," the Xingese doctor muttered, placing her finger on the close up of Hughes' stab wounds. "But like you said – I can't put my finger on what."

"I know what you need," Winry chuckled. "A nice cold bottle of water. It'll clear your mind. I'll go get them."

"Thanks, Winry."

"Just doing my job. Al? You want one, too?"

"Yes, thank you."

At that, the blonde left the room.

The air grew silent as Alphonse continued to compare the prints while Mei racked her brain to figure out what was so wrong with the photo of Hughes' stab wounds. Like the other victims, there were six. That wasn't unusual. They were all within a few inches of each other, which was a bit odd, but not completely unheard of. The blood was partially clotted around some and oozing around others.

Her eyes widened. The blood. The blood should not have been clotting if all the wounds were postmortem!

Mei picked the photo up and looked as carefully as she could. "I can't believe it..." Three of the six wounds had blood clotting on the edges. That meant they were premortem. And based on how much blood was clotted, she'd approximate that they had been caused about thirty or so minutes before his death, though she couldn't say for certain without the body.

And now that she was looking for it, those three wounds also had a slightly different shape than the others. That implied that they were caused by a different weapon. Albeit a similar one to whatever stabbed him the final three times.

"Alphonse," she said slowly, placing down the photograph, "do you think we can get a court order to exhume Hughes' body?"

Alphonse turned around, eyebrow raised. "You want to exhume his body? Why?"

"I have reason to believe that three of Hughes' wounds were premortem instead of postmortem, despite what we were told," Mei explained. "I don't think Riza was lying to us when she said all six wounds were made after his death – I think she was purposely misinformed by someone above. The only problem is that I can't confirm this unless I have his body. I hate to phrase it like this, but he's only been in the ground a few days – he should still be in decent condition."

"Well, we can definitely try," he said. "I can call Ed and tell him to get one for the sake of convenience."

"That would be much appreciated. Thank you."

"No problem." Alphonse took his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. "Ed?" He blinked in surprise. "Yeah, sure. One sec." He moved the phone from his ear and held it out to Mei. "Ed has Havoc on the line for you. He was just about to call."

Mei hesitated but accepted the phone. "Hello?"

"Doctor Chang. How've you been? It's not like we saw each other yesterday or anything."

She rolled her eyes, recognizing the voice of Jean Havoc. "I'm fine. And yourself?"

"I'm great. Tell me, Doctor – have you gotten with Alphonse yet?"

She turned bright red at his words. "I fail to see how that is relevant, sir. Why did you need to speak to me?"

"Edward said that you had some questions for me. I'm on break right now, so I figured I'd give you a call."

She opened her mouth before snapping it shut. "Right. I'd almost forgotten. You said you were with your girlfriend Luxure three nights ago for the entire time, correct?"

"Uh... Yeah, I guess so."

"Are you completely sure? Would you be able to confirm this in court?"

"Why do you need to know? Has she done something wrong?"

Mei hesitated. No, the woman _hadn't_ done anything wrong – and that was the problem. She had no proof whatsoever that Luxure had been involved with stealing her autopsy report, much less Hughes' death. "Not that we're aware of. But she considered a suspect in a current investigation."

"What investigation? Are you conducting it yourself?"

"At the moment I am not at liberty to disclose that information."

"I'm going to be honest with you, Doctor – I don't like being kept out of the know."

Mei winced. "I understand, sir. But surely you realize why you must be."

On the other end of the line Havoc sighed. "Luxure and I were together the entire time three nights ago, okay? So she's got an alibi – which I assume is what you were checking for."

Mei's heart sank at those words. "I see. Thank you. That was all I needed to know."

"Glad I was able to help."

She slowly handed the phone back to Alphonse, who noticed the distraught look on her face. He said a few words of his own to Havoc and Edward – including asking him to obtain a court order – before hanging up.

"Mei?" he asked, golden eyes filled with worry. "Are you okay?"

She sighed. "I don't understand. How can she have an alibi?!"

"Keep in mind that you never had solid reason to suspect her," Alphonse said. "I hate to be that person, but a gut feeling is useless in court."

"I know," she muttered. "But I was so sure! I thought –"

She was interrupted by Winry's return. "Sorry it took me so long," the blonde apologized. "Someone called your office, Mei. Apparently the body we're expecting has been delayed. It won't come until tomorrow or the day after. Which is a pain – I hope they preserve it properly." She put two water bottles down and kept one for herself. "Here you go."

Alphonse accepted the bottle while Mei picked hers up rather distractedly, her mind still trying to wrap itself around the fact that her instinct had been wrong. There was just nothing she could do. She seriously doubted Havoc had lied to her, which meant someone else must have been driving the getaway van.

But who?

The Xingese woman was brought out of her thoughts when the bitter smell of almonds hit her nose. "What the?!" she muttered, eyes wide. Surely that wasn't what she thought it was. She looked around, trying to determine where the smell was coming from.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Alphonse had opened his water bottle. She and Winry had not.

"Wait!" she shouted, stepping towards him in an attempt to grab the bottle before he could put it to his lips. "Don't drink that!"

Alphonse froze, the water halfway to his mouth. "Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Trust me," was her response. "You don't want that in your system. Give me the bottle."

He hesitated for only a moment before handing it over to her.

As carefully as she could, Mei wafted the scent from the bottle and smelled it. "I knew it," she muttered, glaring at the water as if it had insulted her.

"Knew what?" Winry asked, brow furrowed in confusion. "Mei, what are you going on about?"

"This is not water," Mei said, holding up Alphonse's bottle. "Or at least not entirely. It's contaminated with cyanide. I can smell it."

"Really?" Alphonse said, brow raised. "What does it smell like to you? Because I can't smell anything."

"Almonds," she replied grimly. "And the ability to smell cyanide is a sex-linked recessive trait contained in only thirty to forty percent of the population. So I can't say I'm surprised you can't detect the scent. I'm unfortunately in the percentage that can. But it comes in handy in certain situations – such as this one. If you had ingested this water, Alphonse, you would be dead or dying right now."

His face grew pale. "Lovely."

"Thanks for that image, Mei," Winry grumbled. "I don't think I'll ever be able to drink water again."

"I'd certainly advise not to drink from the bottle you're holding," Mei instructed. "In fact, I'd like to dispose of all the water bottles in the building. Do you know who might have brought them?"

Winry shrugged. "Nope. People bring in drinks all the time."

"That means they could have been planted," Alphonse added. "You should take those threats you're getting seriously, Mei. I'm willing to bet this was an attempt on _your_ life."

Mei frowned. "Perhaps. But it was one bound to fail. Whoever did this clearly wasn't aware I can smell cyanide."

Winry snorted. "Mei, _I_ wasn't even aware you could do that."

"Well, I never saw the need to bring it up."

"You're missing the point, Mei." Alphonse ran a hand through his golden hair. "Someone tried to _kill_ you. And you're dismissing it like it's nothing!"

"Because it _is_ nothing!" Mei protested. "Cyanide is a cowardly attempt at trying to kill someone. I'll start to worry when there's a gun pointed at my head, okay?" She didn't want to keep this argument up. "Anyways – was the print on the envelope a match of the one at the crime scene?"

Alphonse looked as if he wasn't done insisting she was in danger, but chose to relent with a sigh. "Yes. It was."

Mei grinned. "Really? Yes! Now all we need is a court order to exhume Hughes' body. I know we can catch the killer. I just know it." She paused, a frown falling on her lips. "Wait. I want to talk to Hughes' wife. Gracia. I want to ask her permission."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Winry asked. "A court order's all you need."

"By law, maybe," Mei said, "but it wouldn't feel right to me not getting her permission."

"I have to agree with you there," Alphonse mused. "Getting her permission is the right thing to do."

"I'll go tomorrow," Mei decided. "I'll take an early train so I miss as little work as possible." She chuckled. "I don't want to leave everything to you again, Winry."

"I'll come, too," the younger Elric added. "You're going to want an officer with you."

"I think you just want to hang out with her, don't you, Al?" Winry smirked.

"I'd hope he does," Mei said honestly. "I've grown rather fond of his company."

"Great," Winry said, ignoring Alphonse's sputtered protests. "I hereby assign Al to be your bodyguard, Mei. I'd be beyond enraged if you died and left me to take over your position. Understand?"

Mei laughed. "Of course." She winked at Alphonse. "Meet you at the station for five, alright?"

Alphonse simply sighed, wondering what on Earth he was getting himself into.

xXxXxXx

 **I didn't really address the prompt until near the end. Whoops. Even so, I'm mostly satisfied. I hope you return tomorrow for Day 4: Hair/Travel!**


	11. Hair-Travel

**In this chapter you get see a few pieces of the puzzle start to fall together! Hopefully now you want to read it. Enjoy Day 4: Hair/Travel. Each prompt is addressed here, but briefly, and at the end and the beginning respectively (give or take).**

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly, I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

xXxXxXx

Mei tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Alphonse to arrive at the station. It wasn't that he was running late – if anything, she was excessively early – but she just felt unusually jumpy. At first she'd thought she was being watched or something of the sort, but quickly dismissed the idea as ludicrous. The more likely reason was that she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, which was unfortunately far too accurate.

Nightmares had tormented her. They flashed between Alphonse's and Winry's and Ling's and even Edward's dead bodies, all gruesomely stabbed to death like the victims of the serial killer. Despite how mature she considered herself to be, Mei knew that there was no way she'd ever be able to perform an autopsy on any of them. Ever. No matter what the circumstances were.

She shuddered. The thought made her nauseous.

She glanced at the watch on her wrist. There was still another thirty or so minutes before the train would leave. She was tempted to board then and there – anything to take her mind off her dreams from the night before – but knew she couldn't just abandon Alphonse.

"Mei!"

The Xingese woman turned upon hearing her name, and a relieved smile broke out across her face when she saw a certain blonde Amestrian heading towards her. "Good morning to you, too, Alphonse."

"I hope I'm not too late," he apologized. "I overslept this time around. In my defense, however, it was Ed who 'accidentally' threw the alarm clock into the wall."

Mei laughed, her depressed mood disappearing quickly now that Alphonse had arrived. "Don't worry, you're good – and I don't even want to know how he tried to claim that was an 'accident.'"

"Let's just say he wasn't very convincing," Alphonse chuckled. "Anyways, at least I've finally arrived. Are you ready to board?"

"Obviously," she smirked, rolling her eyes. "I've been here for ages now."

The blonde flinched. "Wow. Way to make me feel guilty."

She rolled her eyes again. "Oh please. Don't blame me – you're guilt-tripping yourself here. Let's go."

xXxXxXx

The train ride in itself was relatively uneventful. Being that it was so early in the morning and the fact that it was a weekday, few people were riding. On the bright side, it meant that the two had nearly an entire car to themselves.

Mei realized she had brought absolutely nothing to do – excepting paperwork, of course, which she could only work on for so long before it felt as if her brain was dying –, but thankfully Alphonse had thought to bring a deck of cards. The games got pretty intense.

But the trip was not a particularly long one, and in just over an hour they'd arrived at the station and were making their way into the town.

"Alright," Mei said, pulling a folded piece of paper out of her back pocket. "I've written down Mrs. Hughes' address on here. And although I want to go there right now..." She laughed awkwardly. "It's barely six o' clock right now. That's a bit early."

Alphonse snorted. "Right. Just a _bit_."

"Ha ha."

"I know. I'm hilarious." He looked around. "Since it's only a few minutes after six, want to get some breakfast? I'm sure there's somewhere we can get some food from."

Mei hesitated. When she'd woken up that morning she'd had no appetite – her nightmares had made sure of that. But she was feeling better, so... "Why not?"

After only ten minutes of searching they found a quaint little place that actually happened to serve breakfast all day, though it wasn't necessary in their case. The two ordered their food, but quickly felt an awkward silence fall upon them when the waitress left.

Mei felt blood rush to her cheeks. Was this a date? Or just a casual outing with a close friend? Something awkwardly in between?

Unfortunately, the latter seemed to be the most likely..

Unable to stand the silence, Mei reached under her chair where she'd placed a small briefcase and opened it, pulling out a thick stack of papers. "Let's go over what we know with this case."

Alphonse chuckled. "What we know, or what we suspect?"

She smirked at him. "Hmm. Well, how about both?" The first page was a general summary of Hughes' autopsy report that Riza had managed to obtain and had then faxed to her. "We know for certain that Hughes' death was caused by the gunshot, not being stabbed. According to this it basically punctured his heart. We assume he was killed instantaneously, though there's always the minuscule possibility he managed to survive for a few seconds after."

"And after he died it's likely the killer propped his body up in the phone booth,," Alphonse continued. "Do you know if he died outside of it, though? Or was he on the floor inside?"

Mei flipped through the folder to the image of Hughes body that also showed much of the area surrounding it. "Hmm..." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Based on the amount of blood inside the booth, I think he was shot in there and then fell to the floor. After that our killer probably sat him up."

"Why would they bother doing that?"

She shrugged in response. "Who knows? I can't pretend to ever understand why sociopaths do what they do. My best guess is that there may have been some kind of evidence that would have been left behind had they not moved the body."

"Maybe another print of some sort."

"It's certainly possible."

"And like the other victims, he was stabbed a total of six times," Alphonse continued. "But you suspect three of the wounds were created _before_ he died." He glanced up at her from the photograph he was studying. "I don't think you've told me what made you think that. Like, what sent those red flags to you."

Mei blinked. "Oh. You're right. I don't think I have." She shuffled through the photos Fuery had provided them with until she found the close up of Hughes' wounds. "Alright. Look at this." She pointed to the three stab wounds with blood clotting around them. "If these had been made after his death, the blood shouldn't be clotting. It would have continued to flow. This implies they're premortem."

Alphonse frowned. "How do you know the blood isn't just dried?"

She bit her lip. "Technically speaking, I don't, which is we really need to exhume his body. But many of the factors wouldn't add up to the blood being _able_ to dry in the first place. For one, the night he died was unusually humid – wet air would slow the process of blood drying. The paper Riza sent me also says Hughes was discovered approximately twenty minutes after his death. That's not much time for blood to dry. Also, the other three don't have dried blood around them – so why would these?"

He nodded. "I see. Then it is rather unusual for there to be blood like that."

"Exactly. But, as I said, I can't be completely sure until I perform an autopsy." The Xingese woman sighed. "What I really want are valid suspects. Because right now we have none whatsoever. Luxure has an alibi, we have no real reason to suspect Neid besides instinct, and I'd swear a hundred times over in court that Yoki didn't do it."

Alphonse frowned before a smirk slowly crept onto his features. "I'd say we have a little more of a probable cause to suspect Neid than just instinct."

She raised a brow at his comment. "Oh really? Like what?"

"Mismanagement of a crime scene."

It took a moment for his words to sink in. When they did, she burst out laughing. "That's very true, isn't it?" She absentmindedly examined the photo of Hughes' body. "That Neid guy really seemed off to me. His whole attitude reeked of something bad."

"Maybe he needed a shower."

Mei whacked the blonde with the folder. "I'm going to ask you to shut up, sir. I don't need your sarcasm right now."

Alphonse chuckled. "My bad. But I agree – he was definitely radiating suspicious vibes."

"Yoki mentioned that he couldn't tell whether the person who left with what we assume was Hughes' autopsy report was a man or woman, and Neid seemed pretty androgynous to me, so..." She shrugged. "Not a defining factor, but something we shouldn't dismiss immediately."

"Most attorneys don't have a case without circumstantial evidence," he reminded her. "It's always good to keep an open mind."

"I know," she replied. "But I want some concrete evidence as well. As soon as we're able to get a court order and have Mrs. Hughes' permission, I will dig Maes Hughes' body up myself if I have to."

The conversation ceased for a moment as their food was placed down in front of them. After thanking the waitress they watched until they were certain she was out of earshot before continuing.

"I want to examine his wounds first, clearly," Mei said, taking a bite of the omelet she'd ordered. "The sooner I'm able to look those over those, the better. I'll also check his body for trace evidence, but I doubt there will be any."

"You can also see if there's any DNA underneath his fingernails," Alphonse suggested. "He might have put up fight."

"The paper Riza sent me said that they found nothing, but I can't say I trust the government as far as I can throw them. So I'll definitely check."

"Agreed."

"I'm going to do everything that requires in-depth work before I check for latent prints, since the glue used can destroy trace evidence and might interfere with his wounds." Mei snapped her fingers, putting her fork down to grab the close up of Hughes' body. "I forgot to show you this. These three wounds. The ones I suspect are premortem."

"What about them?"

"If you look carefully, they seem to be a slightly different shape then the others. It's possible they were made by a different weapon."

Alphonse frowned as he examined the photo. Then his eyes widened. "I see what you mean. The edges appear to be different on the sets of wounds."

"Exactly," she agreed, relieved he hadn't dismissed her conclusion. "The three I suspect to be postmortem are much smoother compared to the other three, which are more jagged."

"The ones with smooth edges almost look as if they were made by a sort of spear," the Amestrian mused. "Interesting choice of weapon."

Mei couldn't help but laugh at his thoughts. "I'd say they align more with that of an ice pick or a similarly slender tool, but I do understand where you're coming from."

He flushed at her statement. "Right. That makes a bit more sense." His phone dinged, distracting him. "One sec." He pulled it from his pocket and swiped, eye moving as he read the message on the screen. "Well, we've got some good news," he said, a broad smile forming on his lips. "Ed managed to get a court order for us to exhume Hughes body!"

Mei beamed. "Perfect! Under what grounds?"

"Incomplete autopsy."

She laughed. "Well, that's close to enough to the truth."

"Now all we need to do is get Mrs. Hughes permission," Alphonse said as he tucked his cell phone away. "I don't about you, but I'm just about ready to head to her house."

Mei's eyes sparkled. "Do you even have to ask?"

xXxXxXx

"You're completely sure this is the right place?"

"Mei, you're the one who gave me directions – which I followed _exactly_. Shouldn't I be asking _you_ if we're at the right place?"

The Xingese doctor rolled her eyes in response. "You're so funny, Alphonse. Been hilarious the entire day."

"I'm well aware."

"Alright. Let's go." Mei took a deep breath before walking to the doorstep and rapping sharply on the wooden door, silently trying to figure out how to explain to the poor woman what exactly she needed to do with her husband's body.

The door creaked as it slowly opened, revealing a little girl with dirty blonde pigtails and bright green eyes. "What do you want?" she said suspiciously, crossing her arms over her chest. "My mommy's tired right now so it better be important."

"You must be Elicia," Mei said as warmly as she could muster. "Elicia, I need to speak with your mother – it's very important. Could you tell her Doctor Chang would like to see her?"

"And Alphonse Elric," her Amestrian companion added.

Elicia's eyes narrowed before she marched off into her house.

"Well, that was an interesting first encounter," Alphonse remarked. "She's a cute little girl, though."

Mei nodded, though she'd only been halfway listening to him. It felt as if a mixture of guilt and anxiety were eating away at the inside of her stomach, and she was absolutely petrified of how she was going to talk to Gracia Hughes. She wanted to tell the woman the truth about how necessary it was to exhume he husband's body, but wanted to soften the blow at least to a certain extent, and –

"Are you Doctor Chang?"

Mei felt a quiet squeak escape her lips. "Y-Yes ma'am. I am."

Gracia Hughes was a tall and rather slender woman with short brown hair and warm eyes. "Let's not talk out here," she said, stepping out of the doorway. "Come on in. I've just put some tea on the stove."

Mei followed her into the house, Alphonse right behind them. Gracia led the two to the main room, where Elicia was playing with building blocks in the corner.

"Please, sit down," she said kindly. "I'll be right back."

They did as instructed, sitting next to each other on the couch.

"You seem a bit tense," Alphonse murmured to her. "You sure you don't want me to do the talking?"

Mei shook her head. "No. It was my idea to exhume his body, and I'm the one who will be performing the autopsy. I have to be the one to explain it."

He hesitated, but nodded. "Alright." He took her hand in his and gave it a quick squeeze before letting go. "You've got this."

She smiled softly, too anxious to be flustered. "Thank you."

A few minutes later Gracia returned carrying a tray with three steaming cups of tea resting on top of it. "It's green tea," she said apologetically. "I did put a little honey in it, though." She handed them each a cup before taking her own and sitting down in a chair across from them. "So what do you need, Doctor Chang?"

Mei bit her lip. "This might be a bit difficult for you to hear, Mrs. Hughes..." She ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry. I don't know how to put this."

Gracia smiled at her, and despite being warm it was also tired. "It's fine, Doctor Chang. I know who you are and what your study lies in. In fact, I have a feeling I know why you're here."

Mei blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"I assume it's about my husband's death."

Mei hesitated, then nodded. "To some extent, yes. Mrs. Hughes..." She took a deep breath, then said it. "I'd like your permission to exhume your husband's body in order to perform a second autopsy."

Gracia's eyes widened. "What? Why?"

"We have reason to believe his first autopsy was deliberately performed incorrectly," the Xingese woman explained. "He was the only victim of the serial killer who was not sent to my office, his autopsy report that I received from the FBI was stolen from me, and there are many inconsistencies in what we've heard from people who worked the scene compared to the pictures and basic report we managed to get together."

Gracia placed her hand over her mouth. "You must be joking."

Mei laughed bitterly. "If only, Mrs. Hughes."

Silence filled the room, the only exception being the light taps that echoed from the corner of the room as Elicia stacked blocks together.

Gracia placed her cup down, her hands quivering. "Doctor Chang..."

"Ma'am?"

"If... If you exhume my husband's body, will you be able to find out who killed him? And who killed all those other innocent people?"

Mei blinked in surprise, not expecting such a question. "I mean, I can't make any promises, Mrs. Hughes, but –"

"Doctor Chang." Gracia's tone was a combination of stoic and pleading. "Tell me the truth."

Mei didn't know what to do. Was the woman referring to the real truth, or the truth she wanted to hear?

"Please."

That sealed it.

"Mrs. Hughes, it is certainly possible that I will be able to track down your husband's killer," Mei said, "but on the other side of the coin, there is a chance I will not be able to do so. Trace evidence has almost certainly been removed from his body, and it's highly unlikely I will find any DNA on him. But I may be able to find latent prints, and I suspect there's some sort of value to be found within his wounds – I'm just not sure what."

Gracia's fingers were laced together and her entire body tense.

Alphonse spoke. "Mrs. Hughes. Mei Chang is not only the most skilled chief medical examiner I've ever met, but also an excellent detective. Anyone else would have reported the loss of the autopsy report and never thought about it again. She not only reported it missing, but helped find information about who might have taken it – including going to the FBI and continuing to ask questions there. And upon finding out that something was off about your husband's death and that the government is somehow involved with it, she still continued to search for answers. I nearly drank a bottle of water mixed with cyanide that was meant for _her_ – and she still refuses to give up. Trust me, Mrs. Hughes. She knows what she's doing."

Mei was speechless. Alphonse made her stubbornness and refusal to submit to the government sound almost revolutionary, when in reality there was no way it was even close to being that awe-inspiring.

Gracia sighed, carefully picking up her tea and staring into it. "My husband was a good man, you know. He loved Elicia and I more than anything else. There were times when I wondered if I really deserved him. When the news of his death was brought to my door I fainted on the spot." She laughed half-heartedly. "Can you believe it?" She sighed a second time. "I was in shock. But above all else I wanted the person who murdered him caught. I wanted them to rot in prison for the rest of their days. The FBI agents who were working the case at the time assured me that they'd be able to catch the killer in no time." Her grip tightened on the cup. "They lied. They lied because the person who killed my husband is someone within their ranks." She stared at Mei, her green eyes fierce and yet lined with tears. "I know you can catch them, Doctor Chang. I'm sure of it."

Mei smiled at the woman, certain her own eyes were brimming with tears as well. "I will. I promise."

xXxXxXx

"That was quite the promise you made."

The two were on the train back to Xing.

Mei sighed. "I know. I just hope I can keep it."

"I'm sure you can."

Mei hesitated, before slowly asking, "Alphonse... Did you mean what you said? About how I know what I'm doing and all that?"

Alphonse stared at the Xingese woman in surprise. "Of course I did. Why?"

A small, relieved smile fell on her lips. "No reason."

Silence fell between them, neither one inclined to break it. It wasn't awkward – simply there. Almost like a calm.

And calm it was – until Alphonse's phone rang, startling the duo out of their reveries.

The Amestrian quickly pulled his phone from his pocket and answered. "Hello?" His brow furrowed in confusion. "Havoc? Is something wrong?" He paused. "Are you sure?" He sighed. "Alright. One moment, please." He moved the phone from his ear and covered the mouthpiece before turning towards Mei. "Havoc wants to talk to you. It's about Luxure."

Mei's eyes widened before narrowing in suspicion. "Alright." She accepted the phone. "Good morning, Havoc."

"It's still morning?" There was a sigh from the other end of the line. "This day is moving by way too slowly."

"Was there something you needed to speak to me about?"

"Right. Do you remember how I said Luxure and I were together the entire time three – four, now – nights ago?"

"I do."

"Well, I was wrong. I forgot that around eleven at night she left to visit a friend or something, and didn't return until almost two in the morning."

Mei's eyes widened. "Are you completely certain she was gone during that time?"

"Yes. Positive."

"Thank you for notifying me of this, Havoc. You have no idea how helpful you've just been."

"Right. Yeah."

Mei's heart sank as she heard the depressed tone in his voice. Whether Luxure was guilty or not, she may have just destroyed Havoc's relationship with her. "Havoc..."

"I've got to go now, Doc. I'm glad I was able to help."

She slowly handed the phone back to Alphonse, guilt weighing down on her chest. But what could she have done?

"Ed," Alphonse said, not noticing Mei's distress. "Do you know when a team will be sent to exhume Hughes' body? Yes, we got Gracia's permission." His eyes widened. "Really? That's going to be a definite help. Thanks for telling me. I'll give you a call if there's anything else we need." He hung up. "Mei, I've got some good news – Hughes' body is being exhumed as we speak. You might be able to perform the autopsy sometime this evening."

"What?" she said, shocked. "Really?!"

"Yep."

"Oh, this is brilliant!" The Xingese doctor grabbed the briefcase off the seat to her left and opened it, grabbing each and every sheet of paper within it. "I need to go over all the details of the case again. I want everything to be as fresh in my mind as it can."

Alphonse rolled his eyes, chuckling. "I should have known."

xXxXxXx

Mei held the door to the morgue open while Winry pushed the cart with Hughes body lying on it inside. Alphonse had offered to help, but Winry had refused – she'd been doing this for almost two years, after all. Instead Alphonse carried the bag that had been buried with Hughes into the room and set it on a side table.

"Alright," Mei said, pulling on gloves and switching on the light above the body. "Let's get started."

The two girls began the long process of reverting Hughes to the state he'd been in before the funeral. That included undressing him, removing the glass caps from beneath his eyelids, and scrubbing the makeup from his face. Alphonse simply stood to the side and watched, not wanting to interfere.

Mei frowned as his wounds were revealed. "Why wasn't the blood cleaned off his body?" A closer look revealed that it had been – but only in part. Dried blood still lined the edges of two of the wounds. "That's rather odd."

"But not unheard of," Winry added, acting as the voice of reason. "If his autopsy was rushed and likely 'forged' as we suspect, then it makes sense that they wouldn't bother to do a complete job."

"Fair enough," Mei conceded. "Can you grab the camera and take pictures? Get as much detail as you can in it."

"Roger that."

Mei started examining the gunshot wound in Hughes chest. Despite that he'd been in the ground for a few days, it was obvious to her experienced eye that the bullet had been the cause of his death and not the stab wounds. The government was not lying about that.

She noticed Winry had finished photographing the stab wounds and moved down to examine them in greater detail while her assistant moved to take pictures of the gunshot.

Just as in the images Fuery had given them, the three wounds she suspected to be premortem did not match the ones she considered postmortem. They also varied slightly in shape.

"They have to be from a different weapon," she murmured. "There's no way they're the same." The Xingese woman turned to face Alphonse. "Can you open the bag that was buried with Hughes? I have a sneaking suspicion I know what's in it."

The blonde officer nodded before carefully undoing the rope that kept the sack shut. After making sure his gloves were on completely, he removed a small knife from the bag, dried blood still coating the bottom half.

Mei took it from him and compared it to the wounds on Hughes' body.

To her surprise, however, it did not match.

"What?" she said, confused. "How can it not..." She trailed off, her eyes widening. She spun on her heel. "Winry. I need you to test the blood on this knife and get a DNA sample."

Winry frowned. "Why?"

"Because I don't think this blood belongs to Hughes."

Winry's jaw dropped. "You're kidding me." She accepted the knife. "I'll be right back."

"Why do you think that blood isn't Hughes'?" Alphonse asked curiously.

"For one, the edges on that knife don't match up to the ones one his body," Mei pointed out. "I'd bet some naive officer found it at the crime scene and put it in the wrong bag."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because everything else in that bag was a personal item of Hughes', wasn't it?" After seeing Alphonse nod, she laughed, shaking her head. "Wow. Do you have any idea how lucky we are that knife happened to be in the bag?"

Alphonse whistled. "That could certainly help progress this case."

"Oh, you bet it could," she agreed. "Anyways – I need to finish looking over him before I cut him open."

The Amestrian flinched. "Thanks for that image."

"You're very welcome." Mei picked up a magnifying class and slowly continued to examine the stab wounds. Minutes later, Winry ran back into the morgue.

"I've got some very interesting news for you, Mei," she said, blue eyes gleaming in the bright light of the morgue. "You were right – this blood is not that of Maes Hughes. And guess what?" She held up a small plastic bag. "I found a hair stuck in it. Long, dark hair. And it doesn't look like Hughes' at all under the microscope."

Mei and Alphonse exchanged excited looks.

"Were you able to find out whose DNA it _is_?" Mei asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Winry frowned.

"Alphonse?"

"Yes?"

"Call your brother and have him get DNA and hair samples from Luxure and Neid."

"Way ahead of you, Mei."

xXxXxXx

 **I have no idea how Winry got DNA results back so quickly. Story magic, I suppose. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll be back tomorrow with Day 5: Adventure/Home!**


	12. Adventure-Home

**Sorry for this late upload – things got in the way. But at least it's still on the correct day! This chapter is kind of a precursor of how things are going to play out in the final chapters, if that makes any sense. Anyways, I hope you enjoy Day 5: Adventure/Home. This chapter fits more with 'home.'**

xXxXxXx

A few days had passed since the discovery of the unique hair in the dried blood – neither of which matched or was even similar to that of Maes Hughes. Despite the moment of rejoicing that had brought, almost no progress had been made since then. DNA and hair were completely useless if there was nothing to compare them to. Edward was trying his best, but unfortunately he couldn't just walk up to Neid and Luxure and politely ask them for DNA and hair samples.

Mei chuckled to herself. The obnoxious officer had said he would be completely on board to do that, but both she and Alphonse had advised against it. In the end, being so blunt wouldn't really work in their favor. If anything, it would make getting samples even harder.

She took the coffee off the pot and poured it into a cup, mixing in only a little sugar. She'd preferred her coffee black for as long as she could remember – it dark and bitter, like how she felt at the end of every day. Such a thing was only too fitting.

She sighed as she headed to the main room and slowly sat on the couch, taking extreme care not to spill the hot liquid onto anything. The Xingese woman had been so tired lately. She assumed it was a mixture of performing an average of four autopsies a day – which really was sad when one thought about it – and stressing constantly over the Hughes case.

Mei knew they had to be close to catching the killer. And this time around, it wasn't just her gut instinct telling her that. She'd started receiving more threatening letters, and after dusting the prints for herself and examining it under the microscope, she was able to determine that it matched not only the prints from other threatening letters but also the one found at the crime scene.

She cursed under her breath upon realizing she'd completely forgotten about checking Hughes' body for latent prints. She'd have to do it first thing the next day. In fact, it'd probably be best if she arrived at the office early to spray the body before anyone got there...

She sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. It was late, and she'd been at the office all day. According to her watch it was almost midnight, meaning she had been up nearly 24 hours, since she'd been called around two that morning to report to a scene. That was why her coffee was decaf – she didn't need to be staying up any later than necessary.

Her own yawn interrupted her thoughts, and the Xingese doctor considered dumping the rest of her coffee and just heading right to bed. For all she knew she'd be called out in less than an hour because someone had tripped and fallen into traffic, resulting in their untimely death.

Unfortunately, that had happened before.

Mei slowly got up from the couch and returned to the kitchen, emptying what was left of her coffee into the sink before rinsing the cup out. She started to head to her bedroom, but paused when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.

It was the letters.

After a moment of hesitation she picked them up, no longer caring about smudging prints or not. She was almost certain she'd gotten anything she could possibly get from them off already, so she considered herself free to handle them.

 _If you don't learn to keep your nose out of other people's business, Doc, there'll come a day when you have to face the consequences._

 _You're dancing awfully close to the fire. You planning to get burned?_

 _Remember this, Doc: you're never alone. And you never will be again._

 _You are going to die._

Mei hadn't told Alphonse about the new letters. She knew he'd be furious and would probably go so far as to tell her to move out of her house, which she knew she could never do in a million years. He'd also take them a hundred times more seriously than her – she just wasn't bothered by them.

Well... There was _one_ letter. She'd only received it that morning, and for some reason it was getting to her in a way that the others weren't. It was only two words:

 _Watch out._

Unlike the other few letters, it seemed to truly be hinting at something. Some sort of action. And she was absolutely terrified it was going to happen soon.

Mei shook herself, trying to get rid of the sinking feeling in her stomach. She couldn't allow nerves to keep her up all night if she planned to report to her office early. She placed the letters back onto the counter and left the kitchen quicker than she'd care to admit.

She'd deal with it all tomorrow.

xXxXxXx

Mei was awakened by the smell of smoke slamming roughly into her nose and rapidly filling her lungs. Her eyes flew open only to find that dark, thick, 'fog' was creeping into her room from the crack underneath the door. Coughing, she jumped out of bed, mind reverting to autopilot strictly from the will to survive. Instinctively she pressed her hands to the door, only managing to keep them there for a second before jerking them away.

The heat was intense even through the door, which meant the fire was either started just outside of her bedroom or had spread there – and either way it was threatening to burn through the wood.

Her coughs grew faster and more the frequent. The Xingese woman knew she couldn't stay in there much longer if she wanted to escape at least relatively unscathed. She hesitated before grabbing her phone off of her dresser and shoving it underneath her arm. Relieved her bedroom was on the first floor, she flung open her window and jumped out, running all the way to the edge of her yard before turning around. What she saw nearly made her heart stop.

Her entire house was on fire.

Flames appeared to be shooting out the windows, and black smoke was leaking out of places she didn't think were possible. She could faintly smell the familiar stink of gasoline, and suspected that was the accelerant used to set her house ablaze as quickly as possible.

 _Watch out._

The words danced in her mind and spiraled right in front of her eyes. Alphonse had been right. She'd been a fool not to take those letters seriously.

Mei pinched her arm and snapped out of her reverie. She couldn't dwell on what she could – _should_ – have done. What was happening now was happening now, and that was something she had the power to change.

She dialed 911 into her phone, unable to stop herself from anxiously tapping her foot on the ground as she waited for the operator to pick up.

"911. What's your emergency?"

"My house is on fire." The Xingese woman winced at how exhausted and scratchy her voice sounded. "I live at 1628 Willow Street. Please hurry."

"I'm sending people your way immediately, ma'am. Is there any way you can somehow contain it?"

"No. I was lucky I woke up before it spread into my room." She laughed, a strained laugh full of bitterness. "I'm not going to have a house after this."

"Firemen and police officers are headed towards you, as well as paramedics just in case. I ask that you do not leave the immediate vicinity, ma'am."

"Of course." Mei hung up, her heart heavy. Everything. Everything was gone, or was going to be. Anything that made it through would have done so by a hair and would be rendered completely useless. She'd be lucky if the framework of her house was still standing at the end of this.

Out of the corner of her eye Mei noticed something sticking out of her mailbox. Frowning, she walked over to it, her burning home momentarily pushed to the back of her mind. She pulled it out, realizing it was an envelope.

"Oh no..."

Not caring whether she destroyed any prints or not, the Xingese woman practically ripped it open to get to what was inside, ignoring her gradually building nausea.

 _You continued to play with fire – and now you've gotten burned. Don't say we didn't warn you, Doctor. Soon you'll be ashes like everything else._

Mei knew her face had to be white as a sheet. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to give up and yet she didn't. How could she give the killer that satisfaction? The answer was simple – she couldn't. And yet she still felt as if something had just been broken inside her. Something she wasn't sure could ever be fixed.

Thankfully her attention was taken away from the letter when she heard sirens wailing, getting louder by the second. Before she knew it three firetrucks and several police cruisers were in her driveway. It was almost a blur as they hooked up their hoses to the fire hydrant and started dousing her home.

But what really distracted her were the strong arms that suddenly wrapped around her body.

"Mei," Alphonse mumbled, burying his face in her messy hair. "I was so worried. But you're alive." He inhaled a shuddering breath. "Thank God you're alive!"

Mei crumbled, turning and throwing her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest. Tears starting flowing, she knew they wouldn't stop anytime soon.

And together they stood as the fire blazed, neither one daring to break away.

xXxXxXx

"And this is the one I found in my mailbox after – or during, I suppose – the fire."

Mei watched Alphonse's hands tremble in rage as he read the letter that had made her burst into sobs and not stop for what felt like years but couldn't have been longer than twenty minutes.

"I swear," he said, his fist clenching and crumpling the corner of the paper, "that I will kill whomever's responsible for this with my bare hands."

She gave him a soft smile. "That won't be necessary. Locking them up in prison will do just fine."

He sighed. "I don't understand how you can be so calm about this. Mei, you've just lost _everything_. I hate to put it like that, but you know it's true. And yet you don't seem to be angry at all. If I didn't know you so well, I'd say that you don't even care."

Mei shrugged. "I attribute part of it to exhaustion. It's three in the morning and I only slept for a few hours before I was rudely awakened. It doesn't help that shock is one hell of a drug." She ran her hands through her hair. "I still haven't come to terms with it, in all honesty." She shook her head. "Tomorrow it's going to slam me in the face. I already know it."

Alphonse looked as if he wanted to say more, but stopped himself. "I understand. You should get some rest. I'll –" His phone rang, interrupting him. He rolled his eyes before answering. "Yes?" He frowned. "You want me to – alright, alright. Fine." He removed his phone from his ear and tapped the screen. "Alright, Ed. You're on speaker."

"I've got some good news and some bad news, I'm afraid. What do you want to hear first?"

Mei groaned. Just when she'd thought things couldn't get any worse. "Get the bad news over with, please."

"Alright. Tell me – were the photographs of Hughes' case as well as any other paperwork relating to it lost in the fire?"

Her eyes widened, then shut in relief. "No. I left them at my office."

"Is it possible that the person who burned your house down was not only targeting you but also the evidence gathered that could incriminate them?"

"I... I mean, it's certainly possible, though I can't say for sure –"

"That's okay," Edward interrupted, though his voice held no malicious intent. "I don't need confirmation. I just need your agreement that it's a possibility."

Mei hesitated, then nodded, though she knew he couldn't see her. "Yes. I agree that it's a possibility. In fact, it's likely it was a case of two birds with one stone."

"I figured that, too. Now here's the bad news – Yoki has been arrested. Or will be, anyways. Neid got a warrant and plans to arrest him early tomorrow morning at your office, Mei."

Her face paled. "What?" She shook her head fervently. "That's impossible! Yoki is innocent! How did Neid manage to falsify evidence so well he was able to convince a judge?!"

"I don't know, Mei – but Neid's been in the FBI for nearly fifteen years. He's got a lot of experience under his belt."

Mei groaned. "That's not fair! Is there going to be a trial?"

"Not if Neid can help it. He's undoubtedly going to at least try to convince Yoki to plead guilty. Probably gonna threaten him or something."

Alphonse noticed how distraught this was making the Xingese woman, and decided it was time for a change of subject. "You said you also had some good news, Ed – what is it?"

"Oh yeah," his brother said. "That's right. I'm afraid I'm going to have to hold off on that a bit. I'm almost at your hotel. Another five minutes and I'll be knocking on your door." He chuckled. "I noticed you were Mei's room, Al. Any particular reason –"

Alphonse immediately hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket, cheeks bright red. "I'm so sorry. Ed is such an idiot."

Mei just shook her head, his words going in one ear and out the other. "I can't believe Yoki is going to be arrested without any proof. And it's my fault! If I'd just been a little faster with figuring everything out – with putting the pieces together – then maybe I could have prevented it. Our killer could be locked up right now if I'd just –"

Alphonse clamped his hand over her mouth, effectively silencing her. "Mei, I want you to listen to me. _This is not your fault._ Okay? You've worked harder and done more with this case than anyone else. Don't undermine your efforts and make them seem less because of things that are out of your control. You've got the killer in your grasp – now all you've got to do is grab them."

Mei chuckled. "Easier said than done."

"Maybe, but you've got all the evidence you need. Almost everything you've gotten would hold up in a court and convict someone."

She sighed. "I know. But the DNA samples and all those prints and that hair are completely useless at the moment because I don't have anything to compare them to. I also forgot to check for latent prints on his body, so I need to do that first thing tomorrow morning."

"And you can," Alphonse interrupted her. "Though maybe not first thing in the morning. You need some rest. After Edward gives us whatever his 'good news' is, you're going to bed. I don't care what you say. You've had too long a night to be up any longer than you have to be."

Mei wanted to argue, but decided against it. "Fine."

"And I'm ordering that you don't get out of bed until at least eight tomorrow."

Now _that_ was something she couldn't agree to. "I can't sleep until eight! Winry would be forced to open up everything on her own. I can't do that to her. She's already had to cover my shifts several times when I was out investigating the Hughes case."

Alphonse sighed. "Fine. _Seven_ o' clock."

Mei nodded, playing along, though she knew she would be getting up around five or six to head to her office. It was just that _Alphonse_ didn't need to be aware of that information.

A knock at the door started the two and caused both to jump slightly.

"Hey!" It was Edward. "What are you two lovebirds doing in there?"

Alphonse looked as if he wanted to strangle his brother as he stood and walked over to the door before unlocking it. "Your 'good news' better be worth all this talk you're making us put up with."

Edward laughed. "Oh, don't worry – it is." He stepped into the room, allowing Alphonse to shut the door behind him. "I have two bits of good news, actually. Hopefully that'll make up for what you've had to go through this evening, Mei." Edward's eyes were heavy. He wasn't an idiot – he knew no matter how good the news was it couldn't change how much had been destroyed for the Xingese woman. Even so, if he could so much as lessen the burden by even a tiny bit, he wanted to do so.

Mei managed a laugh. "Is that so? What's your good news, Edward?"

The older Elric sat down in the chair across from them. "The best news is that Winry and I have a date tomorrow. I'll be picking her up from work and we're going to go to a nice restaurant and have a grand time."

Mei's eyes widened. "Really?" She laughed again, this time with more energy. "I can't believe you managed to snag Winry! Just so you know, Officer – Winry is way too good for you. I'm going to remind her of that every day. So you'd best tread lightly, understand?"

Edward mock-saluted her. "Roger that, Captain."

"What's the rest of your news?" Alphonse asked, not wanting to seem impatient but also not wanting the conversation to drag on too long. He wanted Mei to be able to get as much rest as possible.

"Well, it's not as great about the fact that Winry and I are going on a date together, but..." He reached into his pocket pulled out four plastic bags, each with a label stuck near the top. "I may have managed to get DNA and hair samples from Luxure and Neid."

Mei's eyes widened as she snatched the bags from him, not caring that such actions could be perceived as rude. "No way!" She looked up at the two Elrics, eyes twinkling in excitement. "This is amazing! I can run tests tomorrow morning, and I think today – yesterday? – was the last day of prints being added in the system, so I can scan those for hits, and we might be able to –" She shook her head, unable to find the right words.

"You'll be able to nab them tomorrow," Edward agreed confidently. "I've been around Luxure and Neid a lot lately because I was trying to get these samples, right? Let's just say I don't like how they were acting. Maybe it's personal bias, but their behavior was kind of shifty."

"In what way?" Mei asked curiously.

"Their whole demeanors were already kind of odd," the older brother explained. "Neither talked to many people, and if they did, it was concise and either really arrogant or simplistic. I'm sure you can figure out which of them acted in what way." He frowned. "They mostly hung around each other, in all honesty. I get the feeling they've known each other for a long time." He snapped his fingers as he was reminded of something. "I almost forgot!" He reached into a different pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. "I got an FBI profiler to give us a basic idea of what our killer may look like and what their past could consist of." He handed it to his brother. "You read it, Al. I've gone over it so many times my mind's completely numb."

Alphonse unfolded the paper. "White male. Late twenties to early thirties. Likely has a past history of violence but on a smaller scale. An emotionally troubled person. Both verbally and physically abusive family." He continued to read off traits for another five minutes or so before placing the paper in his lap when he was finished. "While this list is definitely a realistic list of your typical serial killer, I don't think that's what we're dealing with right now."

Mei nodded. "There's a chance some of those qualities _could_ apply to him, but as a whole it just doesn't sound right."

"That's what I was thinking," Edward agreed. "But when I asked the profiler to try to create a different profile aligning a bit more with some of the ideas we've gathered, he refused, saying it was pointless." He rolled his eyes. "I disagreed, of course, but I couldn't pressure him. I'm only a guest on the FBI campus, after all."

"Even so, it's still information I think we can use to some extent," Mei said. "So it wasn't a total loss."

"Some is better than none," Alphonse added.

The three talked for a few minutes before Edward decided to take his leave. Soon it was just Alphonse and Mei in the room again.

"I want you to get some sleep, alright?" Alphonse said, crossing his arms. "If you need me I'll be in the room across the hall."

Mei yawned in response, already feeling tiredness overcome her. "Fine. But you need to get sleep, too – understand?"

He chuckled. "I think I can work with that."

xXxXxXx

 **Hopefully this chapter wasn't a disappointment. It was interesting for me to write – and we finally got a real AlMei-type moment! Yay! Anyways, I hope you return tomorrow for Day 6: AU-Crossover/Early Mornings!**


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